


Love. Be Afraid. (Season One)

by Akinasky



Series: Not Robin All the Time [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anti-Scott, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Full Shift Werewolves, Hurt Stiles, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Scott, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Psychological Torture, Sarcastic Stiles, Scenting, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Feels, Sexual Identity, Sexual Violence, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Stiles calls Scott out on his stalking, Stiles doesn't put up with Scott's shit, Torture, Touch-Starved, Warning: Kate Argent, Werewolves Turn Into Actual Wolves, Wordcount: 50.000-100.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-09-07 14:19:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 201,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8804185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akinasky/pseuds/Akinasky
Summary: Stiles Stilinski is desperate for a distraction, he needs to not think about what time of year it is or how much he still misses his mom. He takes his best friend Scott into the woods and everything changes for them from that night on.This is a slightly different take on season one (EDIT very different take on season one), and its all from Derek and Stiles' perspective. This is a slow build Sterek, a lot of undercurrent stuff and the boys not talking about it.





	1. Young 'Wolf Moon'

**Author's Note:**

> UPDATED 12/21/2016
> 
> Just fixing the timeline a little bit before I start positing the next chapter. Which will hopefully be before the end of the year.
> 
> Okay this story is mostly un-beta'ed, so all mistakes are mine.
> 
> This beast is long and I love it. Please comment if there is anything you would love to see in this series because I would be wiling to take it under advisement.
> 
> Thank you to the writers of Teen Wolf for being SO BAD AT THEIR JOBS that this story had to be written.

Stiles curled up in the chair at his father’s desk and held the receiver to his ear, listening into the conversation between his dad and the deputy. He couldn’t help it, his Dad’s job was bound to get him the most interesting gossip of the town and he’d noticed his father’s worried and ‘sheriff’ tone very quickly even from upstairs, and when one was listening in on conversations to see which ones he should poke his nose into: tone was everything. Most of the time he wasn’t around when his dad got the _good_ calls because he was asleep or at school and most likely his dad would already be at the Sheriff’s Station. He just got lucky this time and if they were calling the Sheriff then whatever happened was big and undoubtedly all hands on deck and he wanted to know what it was.

So like any good little troublemaking son of the Sheriff would do, Stiles snuck into his dad’s office to see if he could listening in on one of the other lines to figure out what was happening. He figured the curiosity was without a doubt his father’s fault, the man was the Sheriff and he’d been taking Stiles to the station since he was a little kid, especially after the death of his mother. Now it was really not surprising that such an upstanding and intelligent man as Sheriff Noah Jonathon Stilinski (NJ or Johnny to a few select people though Stiles didn’t think his father had adult friendships with anyone. Being the Sheriff sometimes must suck beyond the telling of it) would raise a brainy and curious kid like Stiles.

On that particular day in the study Stiles learned about the joggers finding the body and he found out that they were calling in everyone to find the rest of it and he was going to be out there as well because the anniversary had just happened and he loathed to think about it. The time after she died, all these years later still was the hardest. One of Stiles’ coping mechanisms were adventure and mayhem. He’d been coping in this particular brand of insanity for years now, constantly getting into just enough trouble that he wouldn’t be carted off to military school or sent to juvie and just enough to keep his mind busy and away from thoughts of her.

Stiles could never imagine what the night in the woods would look like and the idea of one of his schemes having a permanent shift in his life wasn’t a worry because it never had been. Nothing was going to stop him from this so he headed for the door, grabbing his jacket and running out the door and heading to Scott’s house as soon as he heard his father leaving the driveway. It hadn’t taken long which Stiles appreciated, he’d only taken his Adderall about ten minutes before the call but it could work quickly in his system and he wanted to use the hyper focus to his advantage as long as he could.  Scott would undoubtedly be bothered by the interruption and the chaos that Stiles invited him into but he probably wouldn’t say no because he was easy and Stiles always wanted to have back up if possible plus, he didn’t do too much without Scott McCall.

Thinking about the consequences if they get caught comes up as he’s driving so Stiles starts making his argument. This really wasn’t any worse than that time he convinced Scott to run away to Mexico a couple months ago and their parents had found them broken down on the side of the road about twenty-five miles outside of Beacon Hills. He figured at this point, anything was better than doing that again. He hadn’t even known if he had been going in the right direction for Mexico but it was because Melissa had tried to keep Scott and Stiles away from each other for one weekend, was it an overreaction?

Maybe.

They were Scott and Stiles, and their parents weren’t stubborn enough to keep them apart.

That was just one of the many adventures they had been on over the years and all because he consistently thought it was a great idea to go tearing off into the night without a second thought to his safety or Scott’s either. He didn’t want either of them to get hurt, he just didn’t think about it. He didn’t ever really have exit strategies most of the time. And all because he didn’t know how to stand still and deal with the problems in his head. Plus, all of these adventures were good for his future as a bad ass detective like his dad, despite the Sheriff badge. Then there was his mother, someone he tried not to think about but couldn’t help it sometimes, especially this time of year.

So he did what he always does, squashed down the thoughts and went back to contemplating this new adventure instead. Taking Scott with him had been a habit since they were in diapers and their mothers had spent some time together. Scott McCall might be a little whiny these days but Stiles would always stick by him, the same way the other teen had for him. When Stiles’ mom got sick, Scott had spent a lot of time in the hospital with them. When he was held back in school, Scott stuck close even when people started joking around that he must be slow. Scott had even gotten into a fight with a couple of them and he didn’t win. Stiles hadn’t cared that he’d been held back because of what happened to his family, because it meant he would still be with Scott.

As the story went from that first play date, Melissa McCall and Claudia Stilinski were best friends, it was actually Mrs. McCall that discovered some of Stiles’ mom’s symptoms, not that it mattered since she died from an incurable disease, something that took her away from them a little at a time and all at once. Scott had been there through the hospital visits, when his mom started staying at the hospital, Melissa would stay with her and Stiles would sleep at the bottom of her hospital bed, Scott bringing him toys and games from time to time. Then when Stiles’ mom finally passed away Stiles had stayed with the McCall’s constantly only to return the favor when Mr. McCall could no longer be trusted with his son’s safety. They had history and a lot of it so it really was to be expected that Stiles would find himself climbing the outside of Scott’s house when he didn’t get an answer on Scott’s cell. Nothing could keep Stiles from dragging his best friend out on this adventure with him.

Despite Scott’s plan to kill Stiles with a bat (Why did he even have a bat? He played lacrosse, not baseball!), it didn’t take very long to convince Scott to go out to the preserve with him though he enjoyed a good opportunity to whine about it the whole way. Stiles rolled his eyes, stating that if he didn’t want to come then maybe he should be at home doing nothing like they always did and Scott continued to whine, “This is stupid Stiles, I have practice tomorrow and I don’t wanna be a bench warmer anymore.”

“Then maybe you should consider a sport that doesn’t rely so heavily on running back and forth across a field not to mention the eye-hand coordination that you so severely lack. Hey what about chess?” Stiles asked excitedly just so Scott would glare at the side of his head, which he promptly did Stiles noticed smugly. Stiles had played chess for years, and had squashed his best friend every time, it was a thought process and a planning game something that his doctor’s prescribed for when Stiles had trouble focusing in the beginning. He would play a couple rounds of chess and suddenly he would get into his homework and it would get done and he still played with a couple people or his dad everyone once in a while. For now he waited two pout-filled moments then spoke again, cajoling as he’d been doing with his best friend for years, “Come on Scott, how often Beacon Hills has something like this happen? Don’t you want to see it? Aren’t you curious?”

“Nope,” Scott muttered, pressing his head against the passenger window as he sighed over the fate he had by being friends with Stiles, “I leave ridiculous curiosity to you. It’s your thing.”

“And what’s yours exactly? Living your life as less than a blip on the radar, never taking a chance on anything? And now the best thing you can come up with is First Line in lacrosse, a sport you are sorely lacking skill in?” Stiles questioned acerbically starting to get exasperated with Scott’s lack of excitement about this opportunity to do something other than sit at home. He worshiped adventures and the sleepy town of Beacon Hills was not normally the place for them, there were whispers here and there about mystical things but Stiles didn’t put a lot of weight to those whisperings, such as this place really being a beacon for energy (what a load of bull). Though he remembered a time when he was younger and niave, believing those kinds of stories and sharing them with someone—maybe his mom? Though he couldn’t remember very well. A lot of his memories around the time of her death were fuzzy, except the one…

Stiles mentally squashed that thought into the ground and refocused, thinking about Beacon Hills as a source of intrigue. The last big thing that had happened here had been the Hale house fire and that had been about six years ago, maybe there was also a girl who died before the fire but events like this were few and far between which was good for the market and the town but then again it meant that they spent a lot of time doing nothing. This was not nothing; this wasn’t warming the bench. This was living and for a budding detective like Stiles, it was an opportunity to stick his nose where it didn’t belong and solve something just like his father.

He knew that any other kid in the world would be sneaking into R-Rated films though he was almost legal to watch them but there were so few things he could get away with, being the Sherriff’s kid because everyone knew who he was. The preppy kids called him a narc and the geeks were nervous about authority figures and they assumed he was one because of his father. At least he would have a freaky story to tell… well he wouldn’t have anyone to tell it to but at least Scott and he would have something new to discuss. Besides being completely incapable of getting away with anything in town he also had very few friends. For some reason people were not interested in his spastic, ADHD conversations and interests though Stiles didn’t understand why not and mostly Scott wasn’t interested either though they had enough things that they both enjoyed that Stiles could deal with that.

And he was glad to have Scott but there were times, like right now when Scott was being whiny and stick-in-the-mudlike that Stiles couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have another friend, though he had no intention of giving up Scott anytime soon of course (Because come on, they were awesome together mostly because of Stiles but Scott had the cute puppy dog thing down… which seemed to work on the parents more so than Stiles’ insane intellect and bracing sarcasm). But he wondered what it would be like to have someone a little wilder, someone who instead going along for the ride, maybe helped Stiles figure things out or found adventures for them or enjoyed a little bit of mystery and intrigue in life, what they would be capable of? Or maybe he would be like his dad, destined to be alone when he wasn’t working but that was too depressing to think about when he was pulling up to the edge of the Preserve and looking forward to something happening out there, scrubbing his hands together at the thought and also to keep his fingers warm. It was January after all, California wasn’t really a desperately cold place but still got chilly at night.

He opened the door and jumped down from the driver’s seat quickly, listening as Scott continued to complain about being out here and sucking on his inhaler after shaking it a little bit but Stiles didn’t stop. He did slow down a little bit in deference to Scott’s lungs but then he sees the search party and excitement takes over, making it impossible for him to wait for Scott or stay out of trouble, stumbling closer and closer before coming face to face with a cop dog and a deputy. Then before he could even begin to imagine an excuse he was being grabbed by his angry father. Luckily he was able to convince his dad that Scott wasn’t with him though it almost looked like the Sherriff was going to keep pushing before his father just sighs and drags him away to his vehicle after scolding him in front of the deputy about invasion of privacy though Stiles didn’t understand his reasoning for having an audience since it wouldn’t deter Stiles’ escapades. Ever since his mother died, the whole Sheriff’s department of Beacon Hills were constantly involved in his misadventures and the punishments that came soon after, he knew the deputies better than some of his classmates, they didn’t scare Stiles into behaving so that probably wasn’t the Sheriff’s idea, he probably just couldn’t wait to start telling his son how much of a bad idea this was.

“What am I going to do with you Stiles?” his father demanded and he didn’t sound angry just resigned which was somehow worse, it crawled inside Stiles’ head and he stalled out. He couldn’t think for a second while he wrapped his head around his father’s response. “This isn’t just about invasion of privacy; do you know what happened out here? Some poor girl was cut in half and we haven’t found her other half and we don’t have any idea who could have done such a thing. Being out here is stupid and dangerous Stiles and I can’t protect you if you choose to be willfully ignorant of the possibility that you could get hurt out here! I won’t survive it if you get hurt, don’t you get that?  I have a job to do and I won’t be able to do it if I am worried you could be next. I need to be able to do my job, to protect this town!”

Stiles couldn’t help his pat response, “Dad, I just live for the mystery, can you blame me? You’re my dad, I got it from you.” He said excitedly, rubbing his hands together again and grinning at his dad.

The Sheriff just groans and rubs his face and Stiles stopped and looked around a little bit and figured this wasn’t fair to his father, it was January for him too and they both dealt this time of year differently. For someone reason Stiles’ struggled from September to about February on some years and this seemed to be one of them, making him more prone to walking in the woods stupidly. The Sheriff tended more to workaholic behavior which was a far sight better than the alcoholism when Stiles was younger but still, not good for either of them.

He didn’t know where Scott was but this was going to take precedence at the moment. The real problem was that he didn’t know what to do or say really, they didn’t talk about her or what happened to her. Stiles had found out everything after the fact, talking incessantly to doctors and looking it up online. He’d even convinced Mrs. McCall to take him and Scott to a hospital that had a specialist in Los Angeles. His dad didn’t even know about that trip as far as Stiles knew. All of it was t try to understand how it was fair that they lost her and how it was possible to move on from it. Stiles didn’t understand what he could do, what they could do to keep making it through another year without her, all the while Stiles and his dad fell farther and farther away from each other. The Sheriff was just not his mother; the Sheriff didn’t know what to do with Stiles sometimes even though the man loved him desperately. His mother had told him stories about the mystical parts of the world, talked to Stiles about the random topics that bounced through his mind like a ping-pong balls on crack and Stiles missed her desperately, missed the way she wrote down his questions and answered them either minutes or hours later but she always answered them. A lot of times the Sheriff just rolled his eyes or sighed, figuring that Stiles wasn’t serious or it wasn’t important and in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t important except to one teenage spaz who just wanted his father to pay attention to him.

“Stiles?” his dad asked, even as he shook his head.

“Dad, I’m sorry about causing you so much trouble.” He blurted the words, his father’s gaze focusing on him, narrowing in confusion and distrust. “I’ll go home, I’ll stay out of the woods. I’ll stay safe,” he muttered the words but he meant them, mostly for night time anyway, it would be less likely for someone to attack in broad daylight but he needed his dad to know he wasn’t going to get cut in half. Stiles wasn’t going to make his dad lose someone else, he couldn’t let that happen.

His dad nodded then took him by the back of the neck again, shoving him in the direction of his vehicle. Stiles is sure that at some point his dad is going to have to stop grabbing him like that but he gets it. Stiles is a constant pain in his father’s ass, and a problem when it comes to his deputies and the Sherriff’s department so he doesn’t argue with the grip on his neck.

Stiles would just have to figure out another way to get back to the mystery. He needed something to focus on other than the thoughts and feelings that came with the memories of white rooms, nurse check ins, disinfectant and sick moms. He just needed it to shut down so he was going to find this body and focus on figuring out what happened no matter what his Dad said instead but for now he was going home and call it a night. He was just lucky his dad hadn’t put any sort of tracer on him yet.

He hoped that Scott was okay, since there was no way he was going to be able to stick around and wait for the other teen, not with his dad watching as he drove the Jeep away from the Preserve. It was a tight squeeze to turn the Jeep around but a maneuver he’d done more than a few times. There was no way he could take the chance of getting caught again, he would just have to text his buddy later and see what happened or see him at school in the morning.

He still took it slowly all the way home and he heard something that sounded vaguely like a howl, slamming on the brakes at the sound Stiles shoved his head out the window to see if it would happen again but there was nothing, just the normal silence of Beacon Hills and nothing else. He scanned the trees along the side of the road, hoping for something out of the ordinary but there was nothing so he started forward again and headed home, shaking off the weird feeling of unease and thought that the howl must have been his over active imagination. There was nothing more he could do in the meantime but wait.

He did send Scott a text before falling into bed but there was no immediate reply like there was usually. He sat there in bed and wondered about his dad, thinking about all the time he spent at the office and almost none of it at home with Stiles, how much of that was that Beacon Hills needed him and how much was the man’s need to not be in the house where Stiles’ mother was still all over the place. She was in the pictures, the furniture and the décor. The Sheriff must have prescribed to the theory that living with a ghost was better than talking about her. He could never understand why the weeks after the anniversary were always just as bad as the months preceding it, though he had learned what to do in those cases and he’d learned that time wasn’t enough. There was nevere going to be enough time for it to be okay that she was gone. Sometimes, Stiles was left wondering what his dad really thought about he son, he seemed to have no clue what to do with him and when he’d lost the woman he loved and the mother to their son all the patient and loving parts him were just hidden away behind the shouting and the sarcastic banter. And Stiles knew that it wasn’t just that, his dad had lost all the time they had promised to each other when they got married, the promise of a bigger family and a house full of kids which Stiles remembered his mother talking about when he was little, especially with her friends who had more than one child.

About a month before she was diagnosed, the sheriff and his wife had sat their son down to talk to him about having a sibling then it had come to a shocking and awful halt. Then he shook off the thought and went back to wondering if Scott was okay. He slept fitfully, wondering what would have the strength to cut a girl in half, or maybe she’d been ripped in half by something but what could do that? He was sinking into something akin to sleep when his phone pinged and he scrambled over to his desk and grabbed it to see the message from Scott: ‘ _I’m home, something bit me but I’m alive. Thanks for abandoning me.’_

Stiles sighed in relief though he didn’t respond and finally drifted into sleep in time to get a couple of hours of sleep before he got up and got ready for school. Scott was riding his bike so Stiles was stuck waiting outside the school for his best friend to arrive. He was glad Scott thought to text him the night before because even now Stiles was prone to panicking about things when he didn’t have all the information, especially with people close to him like Scott and his dad.

It just brought back to many memories about his mom and he didn’t need that at all at the moment. Thankfully this was very different, Scott was young and he knew the Preserve and though there was apparently something dangerous out there Scott had made it out. He said he’d been bitten by something though Stiles just assumed a bug or a small animal since Scott didn’t say anything else and he was very good at exaggerating things. He was still grateful for the text, knowing he wouldn’t have gotten any sleep without it. Scott was used to playing along with Stiles’ coping mechanisms.

Stiles watched as Jackson bumped Scott with his Porsche’s car door and barked something at Scott and he just rolled his eyes. Jackson Whittmore, the amazing douchebag of their grade who had been like that since he was in diapers across from them in the sand box so this was nothing new. He wondered sometimes why pretty people felt they had to be such assholes, especially to their peers. Then Scott was walking over and he forgot all about Whittmore as he scrubbed his hands together and waited for Scott to show him some itty bitty bite so he could commence with the mocking.

“Good morning, show me the goods,” he demanded and Scott dropped his bag so he could lift his shirt and Stiles saw the bandage with a little blood staining the white in a semi oval shape that was larger than Stiles’ hand and his mouth dropped open in surprise before he blurted out. “Wow, sorry bro, I didn’t think you meant something big bit you, you weren’t specific. Did you disinfect it and everything?”

Scott nodded and whispered as he dropped his shirt and grabbed his bag so they could start walking, the warning bell was going to go off soon, “I think it was a wolf that bit me last night, it was super weird and why did you just leave me there?” Scott whined, dragging his hands at his sides with exaggerated dejection.

“That’s so weird because I thought I heard a wolf howl but it’s impossible, there hasn’t been wolves in California for a long time, something like fifty years.”

Scott shrugged, “Well you heard something and I saw something so I don’t know what to say. Maybe there is a reason for wolves to be back. Do you think I should go get a rabies treatment or something? Do wolves attack people?”

“I’ll look into Scott, I don’t know everything but apparently, rabies treatment is something they won’t give you unless they had due cause and without a wolf to prove that you got bit, they might not administer it. Hey, sorry about not sticking around though; my dad walked me back to the Jeep and forced me to leave. I didn’t want to but I figured if he saw you then your mom was going to get called which is why I’m guessing you didn’t show your mom the bloody wound on your side for an actual nurse to care for it. I figured the walk home was better than your mother getting involved,” Stiles responded and Scott paused with slack-jawed realization then nodded gratefully. Melissa McCall may have been a working mom but she was scary when her little boy was in trouble, hence the bat that Scott had in his room.

Then Stiles watched as Lydia walked by and ignored his desperate cry for attention yet again, saying stupid obsessive things to Lydia Martin was basically a habit after all these years. Another comforting distraction, something that he held onto so he could be ‘normal’. He wondered sometimes how much his obsession with Lydia was because he really liked her or if it was a comforting rejection and kept him from actually laying his heart on the line with anyone else. He’d always treated her like one of his ADHD topics, looking up all the information, maybe a little bit of polite stalking as well. He knew everything about her, he knew what kind of person she was and all the reasons why she and Jackson were a ‘great’ couple but also knew about how smart she was and that made him like her even more. She was probably the only other person in this school that could keep up with him and surpass him in intelligence. Though he also knew how cold and ridiculously cruel she could be and the fact that someone’s opinion of her and her boyfriend was more important than being herself. So he didn’t know if he should like her or not, just that it was there for him to be obsessed with.

“Thanks for not getting my mom called,” Scott said after Stiles accused him of keeping in in forever nerddom and away from his Strawberry Blonde goddess, his response like a happy puppy so Stiles gave him a nod figuring that at least Scott wasn’t going to punish him for leaving the other teen out there all alone and continued walking up the steps and into the building. “By the way I found the body during all the weirdness and the not-wolf attack.”

“You’re going to call it the not-wolf attack?” Stiles asked with a chuckle.

“Yup,” Scott returned.

“Wait the body, you found it? Tell me everything!” Stiles said as he rubbed his hands together. Scott stared at him like he might need to have his head examined for enjoying the idea of a dead body. Stiles shrugged and motioned for Scott to start.

So he did. Stiles listened as Scott talked about the spooked herd of deer and being thrown to the ground, his inhaler flying (“I need to get that back Stiles!”) and his light flashing over the top half of the body while he’d been searching for the lost inhaler. “I am going to need therapy Stiles; intestines were sticking out of her. Her eyes were open but you could tell there was nothing behind it, super creepy. It’s just not enough to see it in movies man.”

“Calm down, we’ll get you some therapy later, any distinguishing marks or features?”

“Dark eyes and hair, her eyes Stiles, I could see them! God that was awful!”

Stiles nodded and gave Scott a kind noise of agreement and when Scott mentioned his inhaler again Stiles jumped at the chance to go back out, wanting to see the body for himself, see if there was anything that could help with figuring out what happened. He wondered who she was and how quickly someone would file missing person’s reports since no one knew who it was and of course it took time to get DNA testing from the county.

As Stiles and Scott walked they settled into silence since the crush of students would make talking about this impossible. They settled down for class and Stiles jerked his book out of his bag, the legal lined notebook where his prewritten notes already were, in case the teacher said something about the book that he hadn’t already looked into which seemed impossible. That was the odd thing about how his ADHD presented, it was pretty well under control but when he got it into his head to find information about something, he looked until he was exhausted. He’d learned that sometimes the teachers didn’t care about _every single_ book or topic like he did.

He looked back up and started looking around to see if they had added or subtracted any students, sometimes that happened mid-way through the year as the town lost and gained residents. He’d never thought about why it seemed to happen in January, maybe there was something there but it could also be the blessing/curse of a small town. He caught Scott flinching at something and frowned, watching as his friend looked around and then focused on something outside. Stiles looked out the window as well and caught sight of a beautiful brunette as she walked into the school with the VP and disappeared when they got inside the door but Scott was still watching the wall like he knew something or could hear something. Stiles frowned, wondering how Scott knew to look out there in the first place. Stiles watched his best friend stare at her with slack-jawed awe as she settled down in the seat behind Scott who turned around with that sappy puppy look in his eyes and handed her a pen and she said thanks. Stiles frowned again as Scott turned around and looked at Stiles who shot a confused glare at him, he tugged his cell phone out and snapped out a quick text: **‘Dude, don’t be a stalker!’**

Thankfully Scott had his phone on vibrate and he looked at it when the teacher had his head turned before shooting Stiles a confused and hurt look before they were forced to listen to the teacher talk about Kafke and his short story. Stiles didn’t really listen since he read the story, did the homework and turned it in _before_ the break. It was something that happened a lot for him, he got bored and couldn’t sleep sometimes when he got hopped up on Adderall so he would finish all of his assignments then again there were times when he couldn’t focus enough to get one assignment done, one of the many joys of his attention disorder.

So he went back to thinking about the dead body in the woods and wondering if it made him a bad person because he was glad Scott dropped his inhaler otherwise there was no way he would have gotten Scott out there again. They would have to sit through lacrosse, he didn’t know why he was even on the team except that Coach took most of the kids who tried out, kept them out of the illustrious First Line but it was a sport and a team to look okay on Stiles’ transcript, next to all the A’s.

The day started sneaking by at a snail’s pace and Stiles hated it, though he knew he could have never survived home school which made this a necessary evil. He liked seeing Scott every day, sitting on the bench with his best friend but the rest of it was tough. Due to his obsessive searches and studying there had always been plenty of time to get the homework done and think of five different ways to screw with the teacher.

He knew his father was going to be crazy pissed at the next parent-teacher conference because he’d turned in a paper on the wrong subject in Finstock’s class and when the teacher questioned Stiles about it, the teen hadn’t said anything besides wondering about his grade as if he’d done it on purpose. Then there was the male circumcision on the Economics final, which he had no good reason for besids having done all the other questions as well as the bonuses that Finstock had all through out the semester so he’d been releasing his inner smart ass.

He knew how smart he was; he knew he had ‘potential’ and how he hated that word. So he wrote notes about Lydia Martin instead of the subject matter of whatever class he was in at the moment until it was time to move on to the next class because it was what he did and sadly without his laptop and the Internet he couldn’t start looking up stuff about wolves in California or rabies or any other interesting thing in the world.

During the rest of the day, Stiles watched as his best friend as Scott kept watching the new girl, Allison, and wondered what the hell he was thinking! Did Scott suddenly forget they were bench warming nerds and outcasts at school and all of a sudden the other teenager had decided to aim for the stars especially when it became clear that she was going to be tapped to be Lydia’s newst groupie-sidekick. Not to mention, what the hell was with the pen thing in English and the window?

He tried to ignore it, wondering about going back out into the woods after lacrosse, he wrote notes for class and ate lunch with Scott and suffered through chemistry with the awful Mr. Harris then finally he was heading out for the lacrosse field for tryouts, wondering what he was going to do if Scott actually did get first line, asking his best friend who he was going to talk to if Scott was playing.

Then groaned when Finstock gave Scott the goalie gear, Scott had never played goalie and Stiles sat down and got ready to watch the disaster that was about to happen and it started off great with Scott getting hit in the head with the ball and landing on his back. Stiles scrubbed his face in frustration and looked up again, incapable of not watching. He would have to see how bad it got so he could comfort and poke fun at him later. Stiles didn’t really understand why they were even in lacrosse, Scott was better off doing something that didn’t aggravate his awful asthma and Stiles was better at other things, sports without teams and the ability to walk without tripping on one’s own feet but when Scott wanted to join Stiles followed. Then as he was watching the subtle weirdness of that morning just got worse.  Stiles frowning as the fluke turned into a pattern as Scott suddenly caught one of the balls chucked in his direction and stared at it in confusion. Then another and another. Stiles watched in wonder as his best friend turned into an actual athlete before his eyes and though the others on the field and in the stands didn’t understand the impossibility of this, Stiles did.

This wasn’t about a good night sleep or Scott practicing in the off-season, there was something happening here that he couldn’t explain and Stiles was desperate to explain it, wondering if this was a good enough mystery to keep him out of trouble for a little while and how was it connected to the body? Was it connected to the body?

Then Jackson was pushing his way to the front of the line, anger vibrating in his body at the way the ‘nerd’ was showing them all up. Scott caught that one as well, making Stiles leap to his feet and looked around in astonishment, because mystery or not watching Jackson be bested was always a pleasure especially since it rarely happened. The guy put the ‘over’ in overachiever. He noticed that Lydia and the new girl (he knew her name just mostly didn’t care) are both cheering as well but despite the excitement of showing up Jackson, getting notice by girls and so on this was still weird and Stiles was going to figure out what was going on here.

Stiles loved Scott, he was his best friend but lacrosse, or any sort of physical ability had never been his strong suit even after all the pull ups and extra exercise he did, even after the constant weekend practices which had been going on for months! Scott hated goalie and they had never practiced that position at all because he wasn’t anywhere good enough for such a defensive position. There was no logical reason he should have known how to do that but now Scott could catch the ball coming at his face perfectly? That just sent Stiles’ mind into the other moments that day when Scott had been acting weird and some people might wonder why he was so attuned to the guy but then again they had never had to watch Scott McCall have an asthma attack because of some inane reason. Stiles was hyperaware of his dad in the same way so this was nothing strange really… To him anyway.

So how did he know to look out the window? How had he caught the balls? What had happened between Saturday when they practiced last and now to make him so different? He was left with more questions than answers and waited for the end of the practice because he hated not having answers and he needed to go find them but couldn’t do that here. The last half hour of practice droned on in exercises and Coach Finstock working with Scott, rubbing his hands in desperate glee that was frightening to behold.

Finally, they changed and wandered out to the parking lot, strained silence between them, something Stiles wasn’t used to or prepared for. Without prompting, Stiles climbed into the Jeep and waited for Scott to get into the passenger seat and they headed back out to the edge of the Preserve where they stopped the night before, Stiles figured there might be deputies out there but not as many as last night. They had work to do in the day time, other citizens to protect. Though Stiles knew that it would totally be his luck to get caught by his dad out there two days in a row. They got out and started walking and Stiles just exploded.

“What the hell man!”

Scott frowned at him, “What?” he asked all broken fractured innocence though he did it better than Stiles did these days. Had to be that dumbScott lead them back towards the same area, wondering if they were going to be able to find it now, though Scott really only wanted to find his inhaler, Stiles knew that Melissa and Scott were holding on by a thread financially and the inhalers aren’t cheap. Stiles could give Scott the one in his bag but his mom would figure it out and then they would be in trouble and then Stiles wouldn’t have the spare and it had saved them trips to the ER more than once, it was just better to go back out and find the damn thing though he wondered now if that was going to be a problem after the crazy display on the field today. Something was up for sure.

“Seriously, how did you get so good at goalie all of a sudden?” Stiles asked as they walked, eyes downcast towards the ground so they wouldn’t trip in the underbrush as they moved through the forest.

“I don’t know, it was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. Maybe I caught something from the bite and this is like adrenaline rushing through me before I collapse and die.”

Stiles joked about Lycanthropy though they were in Beacon Hills and maybe it wasn’t a joke. Stiles knew that once upon a time his mother had told him not to stop believing, never stop asking questions no matter how silly it seemed to ask them. He’d had more than a couple years without her to confuse him but he never forgot what she tried to teach him. This was a time when it seemed to ridiculous to be true but for now he refocused on looking for the scene where Scott found the body though while they wandered Stiles started losing hope that they would find the same patch during daylight hours. Maybe it was too different and Scott had been scared and excited when it happened.

Scott leaned down and moved the leaves and stuff around, searching for his inhaler as he recounted again what happened and he was sure this was the place. Stiles looked up and around, seeing the dark-haired man and slapping Scott on the shoulder to get his attention. They both look up as the older guy walks over and Stiles wonders why he looked so familiar to him. The young adult in the leather jacket tossed something to Scott who caught it easily and looked to see his inhaler then just as quickly with the barked command that they should leave since this was private property, he was gone.

Then it snapped into his mind and he exclaimed, “That’s Derek Hale. He’s a couple years older than us.”

“I think you are underselling the years between us a little bit, we were never in the same school at the same time. How do you even remember him?”

“Do you remember who my dad is Scott? I used to dig around in my dad’s case files any chance I got and the fire happened about a year after my mom died when I was always at the police station so I had a running tally of what was happening as it happened,” Stiles asked thinking about all the newspaper clippings and case files he’d stuck his nose into over the years. The fire, the Hale house burning down and taking family members with, it had been a while now and he was surprised to see Derek here back in town but he was interested to see what brought him back or if he’d been hidden away for a while and no one had seen him around.

“You didn’t answer Stiles, why do you even know that’s Derek Hale? I can’t imagine they had a lot of pictures of him from back then even in the case files, that would be horrible after a fire.” Scott asked as they walked back out of the forest and towards the Jeep.

“How do you not know?” Stiles asked with a snort, trying to take the pressure off of him at the moment. He didn’t want to talk about why one of the few survivors of a fire was so intriguing to Stiles or the feeling when he saw what the house looked like before the fire that he’d been there or something. He wasn’t sure and he hated that, he wondered sometimes how trustworthy his memory was after his mom died, it seemed like it had been compromised by the loss and grief, but it was a question for another day or possibly a therapist.

“Maybe because I don’t stick my nose into other people’s business whenever I get the chance,” Scott returned quickly.

“Dude, his whole family! How do you not think about that? It was one of the biggest tragedies to ever happen in Beacon Hills! His siblings, his parents and so on all gone in a fiery death and they didn’t even know if it was really an accident, they thought there was a possibility that someone set the fire with all of them in there, he’s been alone ever since, I think one other sister survived but they both left after it happened. Actually it’s kind of weird that he’s back.”

“Why would you want to think about that?” Scott demanded as they edged up close to the side of the Jeep.

“Because I lost my mother and it almost destroyed me and my dad only a year and two days after he lost everything and he’s still standing. He’s kind of scary and grouchy but he’s standing, not to mention he’s back in Beacon Hills where it happened,” Stiles whispered and Scott stopped and stared at him in shock. Stiles continued before he could stop himself, “Mom was in the hospital for a while and even at the young age I was, I understood that she was going to die and I had some time to say goodbye but for him, Derek came home one day and they were all gone. I couldn’t deal with my mother being gone and I was there, I said my goodbyes and he didn’t. I can’t not think about that sometimes but I never met him, just knew of him, kept an eye out for him in the reports and papers until they left town. I knew the Hale house on the Preserve pretty well though that has to be from the years of us prowling around out here and the files.”

Scott stared at him then looked away in that awkward way that said he wanted to say something to be helpful and supportive but Stiles knew he wouldn’t because Scott thankfully didn’t know what it was like to have lost a parent even though his dad wasn’t in the picture anymore, the man was still alive. He didn’t know what it was like to lose someone like that and Stiles just had to open his big mouth and now they were both stewing in discomfort so he chuckled and waved at Scott though his laugh sounded a lot more hysterical than anything.

“Don’t worry about it, not something we need to talk about.”

Scott frowned at him but let it go, some days they talked about the tough stuff but most of the time, they stuck to the simplicity of life because it was Stiles’ favorite thing about Scott, he was there for the tough stuff but he didn’t really get into it with Stiles. It was no surprise to his best friend that one of Stiles’ favored ways of dealing with things was to ignore it until it went away. Plus he didn’t think talking about some surly emotionally scarred dude in the woods really was something they needed to do at the moment, Stiles would just wonder about it in his copious amount of free time.

“Didn’t see the body but who knows, there’s always tomorrow,” Stiles said in a sing-song voice, meant to distract and defend his vulnerability.

Scott just groaned in Scott-like fashion like being Stiles’ friend was legitimately the worst! But Stiles was either dumb enough to ignore it or misinterpret it, “I am not going to keep coming out here with you, I have things to do. You go by yourself and get bit by not-a-werewolf because I don’t care what you say, that’s some crazy talk.”

Stiles smiled and nodded knowing the denial from Scott was a bluff. No matter how much sleep or anything else Scott wanted, he always came and did stupid adventurous things with Stiles, “Sure sure, I still think you’re cursed, just you wait for the full moon then we’ll probably both be sorry, though I am going to see if I can get my hands on something silver just in case. Melt it down bullets and just wait for you to turn since it’s this Friday.”

Scott laughed sardonically and they started driving back home, first to Scott’s to drop him off, he would still have enough time to head over to the vet clinic for his afternoon job. Stiles knew that Scott took that job to help his mom around the house and he wondered if he should get some legitimate business ventures but shook off the thought for now, he had ways of having money without bothering his dad about it. Stiles left the thought in the back of his mind with the rest of the errant thoughts that seemed to breed like rabbits in his mind, it would have to wait.

Stiles arrived at home and booted up his computer and started looking up information about lycanthropy, he had said it in jest but maybe there was something there, all he had at the moment was Google and he looked up everything he could think of, finding the mythology about werewolves and popped a couple of Adderall to keep himself focused, completely forgetting about his homework, thankfully nothing important was going on tomorrow but if this was real then Stiles needed to do at least have as much information as he could get at the moment. He also looked up rabies and the symptoms, as well as the process for the Beacon Hills hospital and he figured that if Scott did have it, their night out in the woods was going to come out with Mrs. McCall since they would have to do the rabies treatment at the hospital and the woman clearly lived there.

Most of the information came from less than reputable sources, though there were a few of the lycanthropy legends that mentioned some of the things that Scott was dealing with so far, he’d been bitten and there was a wolf howling, and though wolves were known to not live in places such as California anymore, werewolves were humans most of the time so they went where they wanted plus it said that sometimes instinct could bring them into a strange territory without any other reason. Stiles wondered why this one had decided, if it were true, to attack Scott out there. If there was such a thing as a werewolf, then why did it kill the girl?

To make him even more suspicious, Scott texted him from work and told him that the bite on his side was mysteriously gone and it came with a picture of Scott’s unblemished skin that made Stiles hate his friend a little as he thought of all the moles and his pale and scrawny body compared to the slim and muscular physique of his friend. Stiles went into high gear and kept searching, knowing that the library was going to be his next place because Google was letting him down.

When he learned about the wolf hairs on the body and tried to tell Scott before the scrimmage Scott wouldn’t listen and he was left floundering in a way to tell his friend about this. He found out about Allison and Scott having a date that night and as he watched Scott make first line with his incredible moves, Stiles took off early without even speaking to Scott and went to the library and checked out some old books and as soon as he was home he popped another Adderall and started working. The books he found were from the mythology section but Stiles knew from many conversations with his mother and a couple of his history professors who tended to be a little more patient with him, that sometimes mythology was rooted in history and these books were at least from the viewpoints of those historical leaders of different cultures. There was a werewolf/Lycan/Loup Garou mythology in every single native culture, across the board and there were many similarities and now he had no choice but to tell Scott.

This wasn’t just a joke anymore. Scott was a werewolf.

 

Stiles scrambled around his room, righting everything after Scott left because he didn’t want his dad to worry about something he couldn’t talk to him about. He shook his hands, strangely to settle the slight shudder slipping through his body causing the uncontrollable shivers in him. He wondered for a few seconds how many of his pills he’d actually taken but it slipped away in the wake of another thought. He was scared of Scott, never in a hundred years had he imagined being scared of Scott McCall.

This was his best friend in the whole world and for a second, when he was just trying to keep the guy from doing something stupid, Scott was gone and in his place was a beast that was okay with hurting Stiles. Scott had barely pulled back, hitting the chair instead of Stiles and just the thought of it was enough to send Stiles to his knees, breathing to quickly to actually utilize any of it and he wondered when was the last time he’d had a panic attack. He struggled over to the desk on his shaking hands and knees, grabbing his pill bottle and shaking one of the pills out and popping it into his mouth, knowing that he shouldn’t but it was enough to calm him down within a few minutes and he didn’t care if it was psychosomatic or not. He looked into the pill bottle, wincing because there was only about eight little pills left and he was going to have to get it refilled early again, thankfully no one had noticed the increase in refills—they never did this time of year. Stiles figured it was the blessing/curse of a small town, they knew this time of year was hard for Stiles and so no one told his father about the rampant refills from October to March and kept giving him the pills. On the other hand, he figured it was probably a malpractice suit waiting to happen. He made a note to call his doctor either way and vowed to slow down on the pills for a couple days.

When he was emotionally calm again his brain immediately slipped into research mode since worrying about his best friend killing him wasn’t doing anyone any good. Scott was going to that party and he was capable of hurting someone which meant that no matter what happened Stiles needed to be at that party, to protect Scott from himself and others from Scott. Lydia wouldn’t notice and as long as he stayed on the peripheral of the party then he could get away with it, she was undoubtedly going to be busy making out with Jackson anyway.

He showered and got ready, dressing in a tie and a tan jacket and thought for a second that if he had a little bit of muscle definition he would look far more appealing in clothes but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon so he would just dress up instead of dress down becomingly like Scott was planning on doing or Jackson was going to do. He drove over to the strawberry-blonde’s house and slipped in with a group of people, catching sight of Allison and Scott dancing and wondered again if this was a good idea. Well he knew this wasn’t a good idea but his best friend was here and he was going to do what he wanted without any indication of caring that he could get someone hurt or killed then that meant that Stiles needed to be here no matter the consequences.

Part of him wondered why he was here caring about the people who had been treating him like nothing for most of his life, including Lydia but then again all Allison had done was like Scott and she didn’t deserve to get hurt for that. He picked up a conversation with some of the outliers of the party and chilled, keeping an eye on Scott and wondered when it was going to strike. When it did it was still a surprise to see Scott walking past him and away from a very confused Allison, he asked if Scott was okay but his friend didn’t answer at all then Allison followed and Stiles followed them both towards the front door. He watched from a distance as Derek Hale walked up to her and asked her something before they took off as well. Pleased that she was safely on her way despite her date driving away without her, Stiles knew it was up to him to make sure that Scott made it through the evening, figuring that his hunch and his research proved to be more fact then fantasy. Scott needed him, even if that did put him in danger.

He headed to Scott’s house and ignored the bad feeling he had about this but he couldn’t stop. Scott was depending on him to help him figure this out. He couldn’t help but feel the spine tingling shudder as he thought about that afternoon when his supposed best friend pushed him up against a wall and acted as though he was going to kill him, ripping through his desk chair instead because he’d had just enough self-control to shift his attention to something inanimate instead of Stiles. Then again there was nothing he wouldn’t do for Scott so it didn’t cost him a thing to rush inside and up the stairs at the McCall house and demand that Scott let him in then after hearing Scott’s theory about Derek, he took off again just as quickly, wanting to be sure that she was safe but knowing as he heard the distant thud that Scott was outside and he wasn’t completely human anymore though he wanted to know what that would look like he needed to make sure Allison was safe.

He hoped that Scott wasn’t heading straight for Allison and though he felt the pull to follow Scott either way he had to do as he friend asked him, to check on her and make sure Allison was safe. Stiles fumbled back into his jeep and headed for her address, he shouldn’t technically know where she lived but in the midst of searching for werewolf information, Stiles had made easy work of her files online which included a Driver’s License with their new Beacon Hills address on it. He waited until the door opened to show Mrs. Argent who called out to Allison and she appeared, leaving Stiles weak with relief and thankfully silent, he needed another pill to keep him calm but didn’t have any on him so he was glad the blathering stupidly on and on was stopped by Allison’s arrival. There was nothing more to say or do as Mrs. Argent walked away and Allison walked down the stairs frowning at him in confusion.

“What the hell happened back there Stiles? Where did Scott run off to?” she demanded and he couldn’t help but be surprised that she knew his name but tried to stay on point. She might have been conscious of him at school or Scott said something, either way it made no bearing on the current issues at hand.

He shrugged but said, “Look he wanted to make sure that you got home safely but Scott wasn’t feeling well and he’ll explain when he sees you next. Hopefully. He will. Sure he will, I swear. I mean it, for sure…” Stiles paused and took a deep breath, trying to shut down the stammering again then spoke, “I just wanted to make sure you made it home safely. Here you are and I gotta go, busy night and all.”

Allison crossed her arms and her face scrunched becomingly in confusion and he figured that life really was stupidly unfair when even then she looked like a beautiful doll who heard something she didn’t like. Everything about her was beautiful and also angry, “Okay, see you around Stiles,” she responded and closed the door as he turned and rushed back to his jeep wondering where Scott could be if he wasn’t here, maybe he went after Derek. With that in mind, Stiles headed out to the Preserve, hammering his palms rhythmically on the steering wheel thinking that if Derek really was the werewolf then how was he completely human during the full moon? Stiles had seen him at the party, when Scott was losing his mind—Derek had been normal and polite and seemingly harmless when Allison got into the car with him.

Why would he take Allison home and not do anything to her at all unless the thing with the body was more complicated than that? As he got closer to the preserve he hoped they weren’t going to have to clean up anything bigger than dead game, he hoped the dead girl cut in half wasn’t going to be something that Scott had to live with because he did it too for some weird reason. If Derek Hale was a werewolf, if he was the one that bit Scott, then what other things went bump in the night? What other things would Stiles see before the night was over?

He searched the edges of the Preserve, not wanting to go into the forest for more than just the promise he made to his father, there were cars parked close to the entrance and there were flashlights pinging off in the distance and he knew that wouldn’t be Scott, who was probably not thinking about the night anymore, Stiles needed to remember to ask him about his abilities, like night vision and the like. His fingers drummed the steering wheel in a comforting rhythm, something he could follow and sink into when he so desperately wanted one of his pills. He could start to feel in encroaching need to fly off the handle because of his friend’s disappearance. He could feel the way the edges of his vision started to blur, not because he was going to faint or go to sleep but because it was getting harder to focus on what was in front of him. This was the problem with using too much Adderall sometimes, the crashes were legendary and he hated them, which is why he normally just doubled the daily dose and then tapered off during this time of year, instead this time he’d been throwing everything into the new mysteries of Beacon Hills.

He didn’t find Scott until early the next morning, picking him up on the side of the road after multiple strangled calls to the sheriff’s station, hoping there wasn’t anyone out in the forest who would shoot Scott. Mrs. McCall called him in the middle of the night, wondering where Scott was and the sheriff called to find out where Stiles was. He’d lied to so many people in the last six hours he should get some sort of trophy all for the sake of protecting Scott. So when he got into the car, Stiles reached over and punched him in the shoulder, Scott whimpered at the pain for a second, scrubbing at the bare and tanned skin of his shoulder, “What was that for?”

“For all the lies I just told for you. Your mother thinks you are at my house, my dad thinks I am at yours and I hope they are too busy with god knows what that they can’t call each other otherwise we are screwed. Let’s see, Allison needs an explanation and you tried to kill me yesterday! Also, Derek didn’t do anything to Allison despite what you thought.”

Scott just shifted back towards the window and Stiles sighed as he started the car and threw his suit jacket at Scott to wrap around his shoulders since he could see the subtle shiver in his friend. Then he told Stiles that Derek is a werewolf for sure, that the older guy believes and told Scott that the bite was a gift and Scott should be grateful. Then he told Stiles about the hunters.

“There are hunters out there, hunters looking for werewolves?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah,” Scott whispered, pressing against the glass of the passenger side window. “They don’t know what I am, what I look like because they didn’t get close enough before Derek stopped them but they’re out there and because of Derek, I am going to be hunted by them. I can’t believe he tried to convince me that this is a good thing, a _‘gift’_. What a joke!”

“Isn’t it though?” Stiles asked, thinking about the reflexes and the senses, the fact that Scott’s life went from zero to hero with a little werewolf bite to the side. “You heard Allison out in front of the school on her first day? You knew about the party and how to ask Allison out because of the werewolf senses right? The flirting in the clinic that you told me about in excruciating detail and all that stuff, wouldn’t have happened without the bite.”

Scott looked at him, frowning, “What are you talking about man?”

“You wouldn’t have a chance with Allison without the bite, you used your new supernatural abilities to get the girl. You used it to get on first line for lacrosse, you couldn’t have done those things before you were bit so how can you see this as anything but a gift?”

“Because I don’t want to be this!”

“Then stop using your senses in lacrosse, force yourself to be the normal gawky muggle you were before all of this, do you really think Finstock is going to keep you on first line if you aren’t making goals, running them to the ground and getting us wins in the end? You really think you can ignore the senses that got you the in with Allison? Are you going to stop using it?”

Scott glared at him, “Why are you doing this to me man?” he demanded.

“Because you were going to hurt me yesterday, actually that’s not even true. I saw the desire to kill in you because I tried to keep you from doing harm to yourself or Allison, you looked me in the eyes and I didn’t know who was looking back, my best friend or the wolf. I am glad that you are first line and you have this great girl who’s into you but don’t be a hypocrite about this. Love or hate it, pick one but you can’t keep both. You can’t use the abilities and play the victim card about this!”

“He said I would like it, that I would want it,” Scott said, voice small and weak, barely louder than the rumble of the jeep.

Stiles shrugged as he answered, “That’s bull because you want it now, you just don’t like the cost that comes with the gift. Come on, Derek dropped her off and said that he only took her to protect her from you, he said he was going to help you, why won’t you at least consider it?”

“Because he did this to me against my will!” Scott snapped and Stiles sighed thinking that it wouldn’t matter soon enough. He would just keep asking questions, he would keep reading everything he could so he could help his friend get through this. And now he had another reason to find out as much about Derek Hale as he possibly could, if he was a werewolf then he really wondered about the rest of the man’s family, he was left wondering about the possible arson of the Hale house and the hunters because Derek knew about them?

He looked forward to the mystery of it all, he would just have to make sure he would have enough Adderall to keep going with all the research he had now. It was fine, he’d already called in the next refill and he had a couple of other options to get more. He dropped Scott off at home and headed to his house to get some sleep. Thankfully it was Saturday so he could sleep as long as he needed to.

Stiles fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and for once it was a deep dreamless sleep of the exhausted. He didn’t have to dream of white walls and nurses with blue scrubs on and weak smiles, just trying to look happy in the face of his mother dying before all of their eyes.

For once, he dreamt of nothing and when he woke up he was rejuvenated enough to get down to business of finding out some information about hunters and the supernatural. Sadly he didn’t find as much as he was hoping for so it meant that the supernatural world did what it had to so it remained a secret but if normal people knew about it, enough to become hunters then there was going to be evidence. This was the twenty-first century so there had to be something.

Scott didn’t say anything about who the hunters were but there was a good chance that about the time the werewolf came to town and the death happened, if that had to do with the supernatural then there was a chance that the hunters were new to town or possibly returnees to Beacon Hills so he started checking as many open to the public sources for newcomers and the first thing he thought was that Allison and her family were new in town and it seemed strange that Mr. Argent already had work here. Beacon Hills wasn’t a place where there were jobs abounding, and from what he could tell from the online information for Argent’s business, her father sold guns to law enforcement as well as people who were looking for a little bit of home protection, actually offering courses on the use of lethal force in defensive situations. He frowned, thinking that his father hadn’t said anything about a new contact in town for the Sheriff’s station and as far as Stiles knew, they didn’t need anyone knew to get firearms, they were all taken care of by the county so what was Mr. Argent really doing here in such a small town with a shit-ton of guns at his disposal. Of course, all he had was conjecture, so there was no reason he would be opening his mouth about any of this until he had a little bit more proof but he was definitely going to pay a little more attention to Beacon Hills’ newest pretty little Princess because with a father like that it seemed silly to believe that was all there was to her.

Saturday was spent lounging around the house, finishing his assignments for Monday and working on a couple of his money-making ventures before hitting the sack and wondering what Scott was up to. He texted his best friend that night. **‘How you feeling Scott? You wanna play some video games tomorrow?’**

He didn’t know if he was going to have to wait or not but when his phone vibrated, he looked down to open the message. **‘You sure you want to be around me?’**

Stiles frowned and wondered about the last week. There was really no contest or question, he had made a joke in the care about having a boa and he could make it through this with Scott so he tapped out a quick answer, **‘Of course, I already told you. You’re my best friend and sure your different now but that doesn’t change that fact.’**

There was an interminable wait, wondering if Scott was going to be stupidly self-sacrifcing and that would totally be like his best friend to do and Stiles didn’t really like the idea for trying to fight through that so he could stick by his best friend but honestly he would if he had to. His phone buzzed and he took a deep breath and opened the message; **‘You wouldn’t leave me even if it was for your own good.’**

Stiles chuckled, **‘It’s like you know me.’**

**‘I’ll come over tomorrow morning then, I have a late shift at the clinic.’**

**‘Cool’** Stiles answered and fell asleep, glad that they were going to have a chance to talk it out, play games and pretend at normalcy for a day before they went back to school and started trying to get a handle on this thing. Scott was in for a long road with this, there was one thing that stayed pretty similar in all the stories and that was the fact that the wolf was stronger than the human around the full moon and it would kill if not contained and the only hope that Stiles had for his friend was wrapped up in a surly traumatized Derek Hale. He was guessing the man didn’t make friends very often after what happened but he did try with Scott so there was a chance. Sleep came again, a little slower but still good without the disinfectant and the blinding white of the hospital and the scream of his that rent the air when his mother stopped breathing and his father started drinking.

 

Derek walked back towards the remains of the Hale house, pressing a hand into the burned walls of the building with a sigh, sometimes he wished he could still smell his family members, that it wasn’t just the old scent of decay and death here. His memory of their scents had been burned out by time and decimation. He missed them with an agony that burned through him, as if the fire that had taken them all stayed inside of him in all the years since.

And now his sister was gone too.

He walked through the front door and wondered who would be stupid enough to bite Scott McCall and turn him into a werewolf. Since he was born a wolf, it would be interesting trying to train the kid because he hadn’t been out of control since he was a fifteen-year-old douche-jock and that was more than a few years ago. He had always been taught that the bite was a gift that an Alpha could offer to someone but Scott had been attacked and Laura had been killed and he didn’t understand what had brought her back here in the first place. When they were done burying their family in the back yard she had taken him and left this place with the plan to never return. In New York they had attempted to carve out a life together, thankfully with the financial support that had been brought on by the death of the pack. And now there would be one more life insurance pay out, if he allowed them to find her body which he didn’t want to. Why would he want her trapped in the morgue, under the watchful eyes of the cops when he knew she wanted to be buried as a wolf.

He could still hear her on his voicemail, _“Derek, I’m back in Beacon Hills and there is something going on here. I went to see Peter, he’s the same but something brought me back here and I need you here. You need to come home.”_

He couldn’t argue with her, she’d used that tone that demanded he as a beta listen to her as his Alpha even from miles away and through a phone line. They had been the only surviving Hales after the fire and they had run to save themselves from the hunter’s fate for them. To bad she didn’t know what he’d done but he couldn’t have his only remaining family know what he’d done. Now she was gone too. He’d stayed away as long as possible, but she came here and maybe his fear of returning had left her alone to fight and die. Laura had never been a fighter, neither of them were. They’d been running for so long and hadn’t trained for combat and she died because of it. There was no one left, no family and maybe Scott could be a part of a pack and Derek could help him but first he needed to know why he’d been bitten and who was the Alpha that did it. He didn’t even realize until much later that Scott apparently believed he was the one that bit him and Derek didn’t correct him and he didn’t know why. He knew it was possible that he’d been alone for so long that he would take in a teenage whiny misfit just to have pack close again but he didn’t want to think about that for now. Especially knowing that trust would be part and parcel of the relationship of pack and Derek didn’t know if he was capable of such things anymore.

The friend was going to be a problem, he was a loudmouthed idiot but he was also the Sheriff’s kid so it wasn’t like he could get rid of him (not that he would, he wouldn’t do that to another family especially someone like the Sheriff who had seen enough in his life), Derek remembered him from when the fire happened and even before then. The man had been there in a crucial moment of his life, they had both been so lost in that moment and when the time came the Sheriff chose to protect Derek and he would repay that anyway he could now. He remembered a woman at this home with his mother more than once and a bouncy rambunctious child that could have been Stiles but that didn’t make any sense so he let go of the idea, the Hales were pretty particular about the humans they let into the pack and he didn’t ever remember the names Stilinski on any invitations to the house so maybe he was just misremembering. His mother had spent most of her time with the Emissaries and other alphas but it was a possibility, Derek just didn’t remember enough from before the fire to know for sure.

Sheriff Stilinski was a good man and the kid had been around a lot because his mother had become ill and died about a year before the fire. He remembered his mother talking about the strange disease she was suffering from and wondered if the Bite would heal the woman, speaking to Deaton about it and maybe that was proof enough, the Bite wasn’t something his mother would have offered without due cause but then again he didn’t know if she’d actually offered it to her. Derek wondered how much the kid really knew about the past, the fire and everything. His heightened senses and hearing allowed him the opportunity to learn that the Stilinski kid remembered who he was, he knew about the fire and he was the reason that Scott even learned what he was, he was going to be too clever by half and Derek didn’t think he had the mental capability to curtail the scrawny teen so here they were.

He didn’t know what to do with Stilinski, Derek needed Scott to learn so he wouldn’t put them all in danger while Stilinski had purposefully chosen to shield Scott and that wasn’t something Derek had been prepared to deal with. He didn’t know what it was like to have a friend like that, it had been so long, his sisters and brothers, and even his Uncle Peter had been his friends, not the people at school. He wondered what it was like to have that kind of loyalty and not have it because of blood, but because of honest to god love and loyalty.

Stilinski was like that for McCall and he wondered if it would be easier if he just found a way to get the Stilinski kid the Bite because he figured he was going to be stuck with him whether he was a werewolf or not and even in the last week the teen had proven to care more about Scott than his own safety so being a werewolf could be better but Derek didn’t have the ability to offer the choice let alone the right to take it away from him.

When he’d heard the commotion in the woods, seeing McCall run off and finding Laura’s body had forced Derek to his knees next to his sister’s battered body, tears attempting to fall despite years of shutting down his emotions at every turn. He forced himself to hide her body in the guts of the Hale house and would wait until the police search quieted down and he would give her a burial. With his senses, he could already smell the decomposition on her and it would have to be done soon but he hadn’t felt it was safe yet.

Laura.

Derek took a moment and thought about his overbearing sister and wished beyond any other thing in the world that she wasn’t gone. He missed his family so much, hated to see Peter the way he was in that hospital even after all these years. Some how being a wolf had kept him alive but it wasn’t enough to bring him back. He wished he could have seen what kind of students his younger siblings were going to be like, then there was his mother and father, his grandfather and Peter’s wife and unborn child. All the family members who traveled from the nearby towns for the Wolf Moon. He wondered if they’d been stupidly naïve to think that the hunters had a code they would follow, that they would never hurt the people in the house without proof of wrongdoing. His younger brother hadn’t been a werewolf, neither had his uncle’s wife. They had been innocent and that didn’t stop the hunters so of course it wasn’t going to stop them from taking out McCall and him if they got him alone, if they had proof of wrongdoing but then again what had his Uncle’s human wife ever done to warrant being burned to death? The only reason that Derek and Laura had survived was because they’d been at a basketball game, most of the family had been getting ready while Derek prepared to go out on the court and Laura was there because she’d been fooling around with one of the players and she was flirting as hard as she possibly could. Derek’s mother, one of the strongest alphas in the area had been in the house, their matriarch and alpha—one of the first to reclaim the pure wolf form, much like Laura could.

And now he was alone because he’d had a girlfriend, the first since Paige, not even one he could really say that he’d loved anymore because of what she’d done to him before the fire. He’d been too young to know any better and he’d trusted her with just enough to destroy them all and to this day he figured it wasn’t love that she allowed him to live. It was more probable that she wanted him to live with the fact that he’d made their deaths possible. And he had, desperate to kill himself for the first six months after the fire, Laura had him on suicide watch with a couple Emissaries and friends before they could move on and then one day he figured he was going to keep living for her. And now she was gone too.

Derek sighed, thinking again that he should have never come back here.


	2. Stupid Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles tries to get Scott to behave himself, he starts figuring things out and talks to Derek

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you enjoy and please comment or kudos. Thanks

Sunday passed in gaming as well as researching werewolves and hunters and Hales. Scott stammered about what the hell he was going to say to Allison. “You haven’t called her or texted her about this?” Stiles demanded, shocked at his best friend’s amazing idiocy. They didn’t know much about dating and girls but there were a few things that seemed pretty simple, and calling back after a major screw up would be near the top of the list.

“I don’t actually have her number,” Scott mumbled and Stiles paused the racing game they were marathon playing at the moment and swatted his friend on the back of the head.

“Are you kidding me!” Stiles griped, “Come on, didn’t you learn anything from anything?” he gestured wildly at this like the words weren’t enough. “Haven’t you been studying our classmates for the last three years? Always get the number and always apologize pretty damn fast when you fuck up!”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Are you kidding, bro! You left her at the party to get a ride home from a creepy older guy who was just there to make sure you didn’t _kill her_! Sure he had no reason to hurt her but seriously, the guy is shady sometimes.”

“Come on man! What the hell was I supposed to say anyway?”

“The truth, I already gave you that bright idea,” Stiles said with a roll of his eyes.

Scott glared at him just as Stiles pressed the play button and watched as his best friend’s little car on the screen crashed in a joyful fiery death. Scott threw his controller down and tackled Stiles who started laughing as they tussled for a few minutes. Scott grumbled and growled, Stiles laughed until he saw the flash of gold eyes and fangs and pushed himself off the bed with a thud. He hissed when his head hit the side of his dresser then waited, staying as still as he could, to see what was going to happen when he heard Scott heave a tired sigh. Then the curly brown head peaked over the bed side and looked down at Stiles with the normal dark brown eyes, “You okay?”

“Yeah, wow man. If you can’t wrestle or anything without turning, then we are going to have to do something about that. I really don’t want to die because we were fooling around while playing video games.”

“Yeah, what do you think we could do?” Scott asked shyly. Stiles got up off the ground, crossing his arms over his chest while he walked the length of his bedroom, glad that he got enough sleep the night before so he could attempt to think his way through this.

“Maybe it’s because the full moon was only a day ago, you’re still learning. What if we went running? Just run off some of this energy and see how you feel?”

Scott shrugged and clambered off the bed and they walked out of the bedroom and headed downstairs, “Should we go somewhere in particular or head out to the Preserve. I know we aren’t supposed to be out there as per Mr. grouchy pants not to mention your father would kill us.”

“Let’s go to the school and run there, we have the track and the school and no one is going to be around. Hopefully.”

Stiles was glad for the next couple of hours of running around the track, working on his own stamina as well as watching Scott jump and prance around, trying to wear himself down. And he helped to remind him of all the times Scott was the innocent puppy, not the vicious wolf. It was a good reminder and it helped in the process of heading back to school on Monday where the day skipped along at a steady pace and a couple of his professors were annoyed with the fact that he had multiple assignments to turn in, which he kept copies of just in case since sometimes they would forget they had his work early. He was waiting for Scott to come back in after talking to Allison, he was doing some groveling and then listened as one of his theories were proven correct and he couldn’t even really enjoy it because Scott was being hunted by his possible girlfriend’s father.

Since they still had practice, Stiles had no choice but to get Scott back on track and focused so that’s what he attempted to do before moving away from his best friend who was still trying to pull himself together.

Stiles stumbled as he moved through the locker room and away from Scott, there was nothing else he could do for Scott. Lacrosse was just a distraction in the face of the newest truth in his life and honestly Stiles was a little stupefied by the ridiculous idea that the pretty girl who liked his new werewolf best friend is also part of a werewolf hunter family. It was just about too perfect to make any sense. Coincidences didn’t really work like that in real life which left Stiles with the thought that she was a spy. Otherwise it was a hard pill to swallow, the cliché of werewolf hunter in lust with the werewolf, it was the crappy plotline of a bodice ripping paperback and couldn’t be a part of his actual life. Could it? Then again Stiles couldn’t help but be jealous about it even as he rolled his eyes at the stupidity of it. The fact that Scott thought that not being able to be with Allison was worse than the curse he was now living with was proof enough of the guy’s idiocy and though Stiles loved him like a brother, he also really wanted to punch him in the face. For multiple reasons, his desire for Allison was undoubtedly going to get him killed and Stiles was going down with him, he just knew it.

He finished getting ready and headed out onto the field to do warm ups before practice and Scott was there, looking and acting distant which was not going to help him play the game. Again, Stiles wondered if he should even stay on the team though if Scott was planning on staying then he would have to just to help safeguard the teen wolf’s secret but Stiles was far more interested in looking into the hunters when he got home, who knows what kind of information was out there just waiting to be found.

Stiles kept half of his attention on Scott and the other part was thinking about other possibilities for his supernatural search though the name Argent might get him something now with the new information he now had. He watched, flinching when Scott got clobbered hoping it would wake the guy up from his worrying otherwise this was going to be a rough practice. Then he watched as Scott stiffened under the angry shouted words of the coach and Stiles straightened with a groan when he realized that coach was just pissing Scott off and he wasn’t going to be able to hold it off. They may have worked off some of the extra energy yesterday but it didn’t change the fact that Scott apparently had a hair-trigger temper these days. He watched helplessly as Scott rammed into Jackson, landing their Team captain on the ground with a sickening thud before he took off towards the locker room and Stiles sighed before following. He ignored the shouts from the teammates and Finstock from behind him as they looked over Jackson, Stiles knew he _should_ care that Scott hurt the guy but seriously worrying about Jackson Whittmore was so low on his priorities. Maybe that made him a bad guy but didn’t really care. He noticed Derek standing on the sideline of the field, glaring at the older guy for a second because of course he would be here in time to see Scott doing something stupid but he wasn’t around for the trying to train Scott over the weekend. He stumbled for his lack of attention and slammed into the wall inside the locker room where Scott was breathing heavily and changing.

Stiles took a deep breath, forcing his heart rate to settle so Scott could hear it as he spoke in a calming tone, “Okay Scott, this is all you. Remember what we talked about yesterday. You are going to have to figure this zen thing out because I am not going to get mauled because the Coach said something upsetting. Come on Scott. You have got to fight this!”

“Get away from me!” Scott shouted, his words lisping slightly from the elongated fangs and Stiles moved away just as Scott started moving towards him with dangerous intent. He stumbled back as his cursed best friend reached out, slashing and attempting to grab the skinny teen and Stiles looked around to see what there was that he could fight back with. He set his eyes on the fire extinguisher just as Scott shoved at him. He stumbled backwards, righting himself as quickly as possible and grabbed the large red apparatus. Stiles fumbled for the pin, trying to get the white foam to come out, trying to remember what the hell he was supposed to do to get it to discharge but couldn’t get to it fast enough. Instead sending the heavy metal towards Scott’s face in a jerking shove and hit him with as much force as he could muster then pulled the pin, hitting the nascent werewolf with the freezing cold material. In a few seconds of spray, Scott backed away and Stiles kept the extinguisher up, holding it in preparation of another hit. His breathing was loud in the locker room after Scott fell to his knee and stopped. Stiles couldn’t tell if he was safe, and knowing from literally every killer movie, werewolf movie and thriller that if he didn’t hit Scott while he was down he was going to regret it. He forced himself to raise the extinguisher again preparing to hit Scott when he heard his friend call out to him in confusion. “Stiles, what happened?”

“Ya know… Nothing big…you just tried to kill me again! I really don’t approve at all!” Stiles took a deep breath and tried to calm down enough to speak again though the adrenaline wasn’t mixing with his medication very well and causing some light-headedness, “It’s the anger, that’s a trigger. This is stupid Scott; you know you can’t keep doing this. If you shift in front of people, the hunters are going to find out and then they are going to kill you. If you out Derek, he’s going to kill you before the Hunters have a chance. Lacrosse is violent and that’s never going to change. It’s not worth your life, my life or anyone else’s for the sake of the lacrosse glory! You can’t stay on First Line.”

“But Allison, the game?” Scott whispered, looking like a kicked puppy and Stiles wondered how long Scott was going to keep using that particular line of manipulation. Stiles didn’t want to lose his friend because of this and hardened himself to the truth that he would have to speak. Scott clearly was going to continue on the selfish journey he was on instead of thinking of anything other than the pretty girl he had a second chance with or the team he wanted so desperately to be a part of. So he went for the gut with his response.

“You already hurt Jackson, do you want to keep going until you kill someone?” he demanded, moving towards his friend and gripped Scott’s shoulder tightly, shaking him a little in the effort, wincing at the remaining chill from the extinguisher and realized they were going to have to get Scott showered before anyone walked in here and he was probably going to get detention for using the fire extinguisher because now it would have to be reset. And that wasn’t going to matter to Scott, he thought sadly. He knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Scott’s priorities were not the safety of himself or others, but popularity and Alison (mostly Allison). After seeing Derek, knowing what he went through and the kind of danger that Scott was in because of this Stiles couldn’t help but think that Scott was just being stupid.

“Stiles,” Scott husked sadly, hands held out in a bid to be understood and forgiven.

“You almost killed me!” Stiles shouted, flopping the extinguisher back on the ground then looked around, hoping that no one was nearby and listening. “You’re being selfish, you need to get out of the game.”

“But I’m first line!” Scott whimpered again and Stiles shook his head quickly, sighing because he hated having to be the responsible grown-up between the two of them.

“Not anymore,” Stiles returned and before Scott could argue Stiles pushed him towards the showers and turned on the spigot, to drown out whatever his friend might want to say but also because they were running out of time and privacy. They would have to figure out something else, a code for when they were in school otherwise someone was going to get them sent to Eichen House. He hurried through his own shower and they left. Scott left in his mother’s car for the clinic and Stiles walked over to the jeep, looking around and saw Derek leaning against his Camaro and staring after Scott’s departing vehicle. Stiles would give the guy one thing, he did the creepy stalker thing very well. This was going to get worse before it got better and with Scott being a whiny selfish bitch at the moment, Stiles was going to have to talk to the werewolf if he wanted clemency for Scott’s stupidity. For now though he needed information and he was heading home to find it so when Scott made it home that evening he would have something, anything really would be good right now.

Stiles went straight to his computer, shaking a pill out of his prescription bottle and frowned at the dwindling amount, he still needed to make that phone call. First though he had mysteries to solve. Stiles started texting and searching through social media for news, talking to as many people as he could getting more rumors than facts at first then he remembered about the nurse at the hospital. She had a crush on his dad and he wasn’t above using that connection to figure out what was happening with Jackson the ‘tool’ Whittmore, Captain of the Lacross team. He knew time was ticking down before his Skype ‘date’ with Scott so he kept working. Jackson was okay, his shoulder was injured badly enough that he _shouldn’t_ be playing and the scary part was that was Scott just at practice. He hadn’t even been trying to damage the guy. They were all in trouble if Scott went onto that field and everyone was depending on him and due to his most recent behavior Stiles was sure this conversation wasn’t going to go well at all.

He found himself thinking about Derek, that of all the people and places and books and websites, he had all the good information. He knew what was true and what wasn’t. Really the best thing for everyone was for Stiles to go and find the guy and make him help. The teenager grinned as he thought that and without another thought to killers, bodies or werewolves in the forest not to mention promises to fathers he rushed out of his room and headed downstairs. It didn’t even occur to him to worry about the fact that he had no way of contacting the man so he got into his jeep and headed off towards the Preserve, since the Hale house was the only lead he had. He wondered if the guy was just hanging around out there, since one of the random searches he’d done over the weekend was the hotels and inns around town and Derek wasn’t registered anywhere. The age of technology and the lies his dad was going to kill him for someday gets Stiles a lot of information these days. He wondered why he would do that, why would he live in the place where his family was killed? Unless he just had nowhere else to go, and no one to trust. He wondered if the guy even had a cellphone. Maybe he would get one for the werewolf if they were going to be trying to get a hold of him.

He listened to a rock station as he drove, his thumbs beating out the tempo while he thought about all the things he might want to ask the guy if he lucked into finding him, passing Scott’s house on the way. His eyes snapping back and forth on both sides of the sleep road. His hyper awareness was the only reason he caught sight of the darkened figure, in all black with a black head pointed towards the ground slightly ahead, walking towards the way Stiles had come. The figure, clothes, posture and coloring were all enough that he pulled over and got out of the jeep. He locked the door, palming his keys as he walked towards Derek, the werewolf looked up when he heard the noise of the door and paused, glaring at Stiles then turned back the way he’d come and started walking away.

“Hey!” Stiles growled and took off towards him and in the darkness, it was hard to miss the paleness of the werewolf’s skin, the gaunt underfed look and the bags under his eyes. Stiles wondered if the werewolf healing wasn’t capable of healing the signs of exhaustion and grief or maybe it couldn’t keep up? Then he wondered if he could research that. Or ask Derek about it without being incredibly insensitive but then again this was supposedly the guy that attacked Scott so maybe he didn’t care about the guy’s feelings but then again he should if he was violent. “Hey Derek?” he called out again when he was near enough to press a hand to his shoulder. Derek paused, though Stiles could tell he was a slit second from jerking away from his loose hold.

Then the teen watched as the older werewolf’s shoulders slumped a little more and he turned around and Stiles walked over slowly now that Derek had stopped. He shoved his hands in his pants pockets akward now that the other man stopped to hear him out. “Hey, I had some questions for you. Do you have a cell phone or something that I could call and text like a stalker? Scott should be able to get a hold of you anyway, being the guy who turned him and all.” Stiles asked, wondering for a second, despite his joke if that’s what this looked like: a girl with a crush or a stalker but he didn’t think he had a choice, not to mention the stupidity of talking to the guy that they suspected of killing the girl in the woods though Stiles still had reservations about that belief, the guy had lost his whole family. Of course, that could have sent him into a crazed homicidal spiral but Stiles didn’t think that was true either, though he couldn’t put his finger on why he thought that.

“I am not giving you my number,” Derek responded with a sneer. Then he nudged past Stiles and started walking again, Stiles wondered why Derek was heading towards the center of town and away from the preserve but didn’t care enough to ask that question. He had others to ask, he started following after the werewolf.

“What happened to the other half of the body Derek? Did you move it?” Stiles blurted and Derek paused and turned back again. Derek’s eyebrows were epic, telling a story of anger and shock all by themselves. I mean who needed words anyway? Stiles deliberately chose to ignore the anger and continue his line of questioning, “Why did you kill her? Why turn Scott? You told Scott that you would help him and yet you just stand by while he tries to kill me again, the helpless human sidekick! Also, there are hunters? How do you know about them? How long have you been like this?”

Derek stared at Stiles, mouth open and flopping like a fish. Clearly the werewolf had no idea what to answer first if he was going to answer at all or maybe it was the fact that Stiles was talking to him at all. Shaking his head, he turned again as if he was going to walk away though he stopped short before Stiles had a chance to follow. Stiles thought this might be worse than the Mexico plan. Again there was no exit strategy and what was worse, he was alone. No one knew where he was or who he was talking to and right now Derek did look like he was capable of hurting anyone that crossed him and yet here idiotic Stiles was barking questions at him on the sleepy streets of Beacon Hills.

“I think you have more guts than brains,” Derek returned finally as he rubbed his furrowed forehead. “Look, its Stiles right?”

Stiles nodded, sensing the small thrill in his stomach because the guy knew his name and tried to ignore the sensation, he didn’t understand it anyway. It was probably all the Adderall he’d been taking; he should really look up the effects of taking too much maybe later when he was done saving his best friend from killing someone, he’d looked it up before but it’s been a while and there are a lot of things that just fall out of his memory banks because of too much information.

“What kind of name is Stiles anyway?” Derek asked and Stiles grinned thinking that he wasn’t that different from them beneath the surly attitude and trauma in his past, actually he was a lot like Stiles on the inside, definitely not the outside though. The guy was built like a brick shithouse and wasn’t half bad looking either. He just shrugged and waited for a minute. Derek took a deep breath and Stiles watched it expand his chest and diaphragm before echoing the breathing pattern unconsciously which evened out his heartrate and breathing. The werewolf continued, “I know you have no reason to believe me, Scott is angry and young and neither one of you know a fraction of the whole story but I didn’t kill the girl. That girl was my older sister Laura and I came home to find her only I found her like that. She was dead before I even got into town. I didn’t know she’d even come back to this god-forsaken town when she left me a voicemail to come home and I did. I couldn’t find her anywhere then the police were in the Preserve where they don’t belong! She’d been cut in half! She was the only family I had left.”

Stiles deflated, wondering why his father didn’t know that. Stiles would have heard by now if they had learned who the girl was or if she had any family.  “Why would you hide that from the cops?”

“Because without the other half of her body they don’t have anything to identify and I was still looking for her when I was dragged into the station to be questioned because I was here on the Preserve, not that I had been here in years and the reason I know it was her was because of her scent. How am I supposed to explain that? And I didn’t turn Scott, I don’t have the power to.”

Stiles frowned, “What? A werewolf bit him; you’re the only one we know about! A werewolf bite turns someone, right?”

“Yeah Stiles, the ‘only one you _know_ about’ but not the only one. You’ve been doing all this research, books and the internet but have you learned anything about the differences between Alphas and betas because there are a couple things? You think because you Google werewolf, that you know everything there is to know? You’re an idiot! Even if it’s out there, we try to mix up the details, make it like fantasy not reality to protect us; we have members of various packs that live for that kind of work and misdirection within the supernatural community. We don’t want people to know everything there is to know about us. Now that Scott is one of us, he needs to be trained to control his abilities and while we don’t know who the Alpha was that bit him or why, I am all he’s got.”

Stiles took a deep breath and sighed before he spoke, “He thinks you killed the girl and before I try to change his mind, how do I know you’re telling the truth?” Stiles demanded, arms flailing around as he stared at the brooding older man, surprised by this new development. Laura, the dead girl, was she also a werewolf?

Derek rolled his eyes then took a step forward and pulled out something from his pocket, it was a wallet, nondescript and leather. Derek pulled a picture out and it was of him and a girl, they both had their heads cocked slightly downwards, eyes closed while they held hands and dressed in black. He wondered about the pose but sadly because the cops haven’t found the top half of the body he has no idea if that’s her or not. Then he gets sidetracked by the picture, reaching out and snatching it from Derek, who growled at him in response. “How would I know who this is? I didn’t see the girl.”

Derek growled again and turned back towards the house, leaving Stiles holding the photograph so he took off after Derek and grabbed his muscled shoulder, turning him only to stare into shining supernatural blue eyes and took a step back from the angry werewolf.

“I’m sorry, Scott saw the body I didn’t.”

“Then I have nothing else to give you besides my word, I didn’t kill my sister. I am not a killer, just because wolves are predators doesn’t mean we have to kill especially when we learn control around the full moon.”

Stiles looked down at the photo again, it was clearly a couple years old but there was Derek and his sister, whether she was the dead girl or not did nothing to detract from the clear genetic similarities between the two of them especially since Stiles had seen a few family photos from the newspaper clippings when the house fire happened.

Derek grumble growled something else then reached out and lifted Stiles’ hand to the side of his neck, the teen frowned at the grumpy werewolf and tried to figure out what he was trying to do until he felt Derek press Stiles’ hand into the pulse point located there. Derek used his pointer finger and middle finger, to ride Stiles’ hand and press it deeply into his throat enough to find the pulse. He felt as the thump-thump sped up  a little then resettled into what Stiles assumed was the werewolf’s regular pace again though it seemed a little fast, “You feel that?”

He nodded, “Your heartbeat jumped before it steadied, what for?”

Derek didn’t answer the question and Stiles listened as he spoke, “Let yourself settle into the pulse, the rhythm of my heartbeat. There is going to be an uptick or a break in the pattern if I’m lying.”

Stiles nodded, still holding the picture in his other hand, trying not to let his hand shake at the prospect of having it on Derek Hale and sensing and feeling whether he was lying or not. Stiles was shocked that Derek would let him press his fingers into the wolf’s neck, there was a shadow of trust here… He swallowed, his throat making an audible click at the dryness in his mouth and throat before speaking. “I wrote a paper about human lie detectors and my father taught me a few things. I don’t know if many of them would work on werewolves though.”

Derek sighed, “Feel the rhythm, listen to me when I tell you this. I did not kill my sister, Laura Hale, whose body was found in the woods.”

The words were slow and steady and what Stiles felt was the pain that Derek felt because of Laura’s death and there was no shift or change in the heartbeat he still had his fingers pressed against. He gulped again then pulled away, his hand sliding down away from Derek’s pulse point, through Derek’s loosened grip to flop back to his side before holding out the photo, “I get it okay! I will talk to Scott. What’s with the eyes closed and the pose?” he whispered, not knowing how to say he was sorry that the only family Derek had left was clearly dead as well.

“Take out your phone, take a picture of me with the flash on,” Derek commanded gently so Stiles does so, making sure the flash was on though it was set to auto flash so it should have flashed anyway since it was dark out. He took the picture then looked at his phone, seeing the weird light emanating from Derek’s eyes and obscuring the rest of his face though he could still see the sharp cheekbones and the dark hair, the strong shoulders inside the leather jacket and he knew that this was Derek with or without the flare. Stiles looked up frowning at him.

“What is that?” Stiles asked, breathless at the thought of another piece to the werewolf puzzle, the Derek puzzle (plus another sliver of trust from the man) and everything in between in their crazy lives.

“Our eyes reflect in the flash of a picture, this is a way for us to have pictures of ourselves and each other without that problem but this was also the first family portrait we’d had after our family… It was our memorial for them too.”

Stiles reached out and touched Derek’s shoulder, squeezing lightly before he released him knowing that Derek wouldn’t accept the touch for very long especially from a spastic sophomore and nodded, “I’m sorry for your loss, with the fire and your sister. I don’t have a good reason not to believe you especially since you didn’t do anything to Allison except make sure she was safe in case Scott went crazy for the taste of meat.”

Derek stared at him, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion, “You know about the fire?” he asked though to Stiles it almost sounded like a statement instead of a question. Stiles shifted from foot to foot, wondering what he should be saying about the fire because he probably knew more than any citizen of Beacon Hills should’ve known about it. He was going to know things that _only_ the police were supposed to know about what happened because of his rampant curiosity.

Stiles nodded, dragging his hands out of his pockets again to pick at his cuticles a little instead of looking straight at the older man as he answered, “I heard a lot about it.”

“You know that thing about lying?” Derek asked and Stiles didn’t have time to nod before he was speaking, “You just lied.”

Stiles shrugged “Yeah okay. That’s annoying, I’m glad my dad can’t do that.”

“You know more than you should, don’t you? You think I am what, going to be angry or turn you into your father for wrecking my right to privacy during one of the hardest times of my life?” Derek responded, he crossed his arms over his chest.

“It was never about digging into something that wasn’t my business, it wasn’t and this isn’t an excuse but it happened almost to the day a year after my mom died. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and what you went through and missing my mom left me horrible about boundaries and keeping myself out of other people’s business. And speaking of—did the fire have anything to do with you being a werewolf, were others in your family as well? I’m guessing that your sister was.”

“You ask too many questions,” Derek grumbled before turning and walking away. Stiles shrugged and figured that he’d been poking the werewolf for long enough. He wondered if that was a yes or a no. Then he looked down at the picture still displayed on his phone again, his finger hovering over the delete button but didn’t hit it. He saved it to his private photo album instead and headed back to his car and then home, realizing after a few minutes in the cab that he’d asked a lot of questions that Derek didn’t answer but then again Stiles had gotten one of the answers he needed, there was possibly another werewolf that bit Scott and there was a high probability that Derek hadn’t killed the girl unless he was lying about his sister and it was still a possibility but honestly the guy wouldn’t have been able to fake the anger and devastation at losing his sister too.

He opened his computer and called his friend, Scott answered and Stiles grabbed his toy gun and shot it at the screen, wondering why he was trying so hard to be young and silly when they had so much bigger issues going on right now, at least he didn’t have to think about what he was trying not to think about. “What did you find out?” Scott asked.

Stiles told him about Jackson, wondering if he was brave enough to tell Scott that he’d gone behind his friend’s back to find out what was happening. “Scott, they’re depending on you now for the game, I still don’t think that you should play. For everyone’s sake.”

“I have to,” Scott returned.

Stiles sighed in frustration and rolled his eyes at his friend’s response. He looked down at the edge of the picture in his computer screen, most of it was taken up with Scott’s face and neck and a little of his shoulders but off to the side was a dark blob that Stiles didn’t recognize from the last time he’d been in Scott’s room which was the day before. There was nothing back in that corner that would account for the dark figure that was starting to take shape and look more and more like a man.

Stiles thought back to Derek, the man who was being threatened by Scott’s existence and he’d been heading in the direction of Scott’s house. Stiles typed out a warning, hoping he wasn’t going to have to watch someone kill his best friend, trying to warn Scott about the person standing in his room. Why would Derek do that, hadn’t he understood that Stiles was going to talk to Scott, maybe try and figure out if Derek’s story was true? Then again he hadn’t believed Derek just from the picture because he hadn’t seen the body. He should have taken a quick pic of the photo so he could look at it later but hadn’t thought about it at the time and now it didn’t matter because someone was attacking Scott, undoubtedly it was Derek. He’d been so busy questioning Derek about things that the man had clearly not wanted to talk about, he never actually said he was going to take care of Scott and the lacrosse game had put them both in danger. After Derek’s alleged loss of another family member and Stiles had a hard time believing the guy would lie about a thing like that, he had to be pretty desperate to keep himself safe, even keep Scott safe. Stiles knew that Scott’s selfish actions were putting them both in danger which was why Stiles had been trying to get him to back down from first line.

“Shit!” Stiles declared as the laptop stalled and he ran back out the door again, missing when the picture picked up and Derek was shoving Scott against the wall. He ran to the Jeep then thought about the phone he’d left on his desk but ended up just running through the neighborhood to Scott’s house and paused in front of the house for a second.

“Scott!” he shouted, figuring that Melissa wasn’t here then rushed up to the front door and pushed it open, heading straight for the stairs and into Scott’s room, finding his friend sitting on the floor and breathing heavily.

“What happened?” Stiles asked.

“He threatened me,” Scott snarled and ended up sounding like a whine at the same time before he pushed away Stiles as he tried to help Scott up. “He said if I play, he’s going to kill me.”

“Goddamnit!” Stiles exclaimed, walking over to the window but Derek was already long gone obviously. It was like being the lone man standing between two rabid dogs about to fight, trying to get them to _not_ fight. If they did both were going to get hurt and Stiles couldn’t seem to stop it from happening. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Scott, “Are you going to talk to Finstock?”

“Yeah,” Scott sighed, “I don’t want to get killed. He already killed that girl.”

“Maybe he didn’t though,” Stiles said and watched as Scott’s gaze snapped to him in surprise then hurt.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded.

“Derek, he said that the girl that was killed is his sister. After the guy lost most of his family, I don’t think he would lie about that and he said he didn’t kill her. I believe him mostly. Sorta. Though his actions here aren’t really helping. He also said he can’t be the one that turned you, doesn’t have the power. He said something about alphas and betas though I don’t know that he actually told me everything, actually he didn’t tell me much at all.”

“Why would you talk to him? Of course he is going to convince you he’s innocent!” Scott growled back at Stiles as started pacing the short distance from the door to the window, he was left wondering if Scott was getting triggered and turning which isn’t going to be good for either of them. Stiles is really going to have to consider the fact that he was never going to survive this relationship with werewolves unless he got some self-defense under his belt. Something else to look up, Stiles though with a sigh.

“Because he said he could help you, why can’t you just consider it?” Stiles mumbled, keeping his eyes low and his shoulders down while picking at the calluses on his palm, wondering for a second where they came from. Maybe from gym or from practicing with Scott constantly for lacrosse but he looked up at Scott’s face after a few minutes of silence. Scott’s face was blank now and he wondered what may have been there before.

“You believe him?” Scott demanded as he walked over and jerked Stiles up off the bed and nudged him forcefully towards the door.

“Yes, I do, you’re not going to play tomorrow anyway. What’s the issue?”

“You trust him instead of me, well we’ll just see about that!” Scott shouted and shoved Stiles out of his bedroom and slammed the door just as he turned towards the bedroom. Stiles slammed against the wall next to the door and groaned, wondering how much of Scott’s angry response was because Stiles went to Derek without Scott and how much of it was because of his heightened werewolf senses and emotions. He knew that Scott had never been an angry person and now he’d attacked Stiles multiple times in less than a week, hadn’t even cared when Jackson got hurt. How much was the wolf and how much was really Scott anymore? And if Derek could help keep Scott under control, to keep the wolf at bay isn’t that worth a little groveling to the other man? Apparently, Scott didn’t agree.

Stiles’ shoulders sagged as he walked back down the stairs and out the door, wandering home slowly and despondent, wondering if Derek was still out here somewhere and if he would be willing to talk to Stiles about what happened but hopefully Scott was going to talk to Finstock and they wouldn’t have to worry about Mr. Scarywolf trying to kill the other teen.

Stiles went straight home and started looking into any possible way to teach Scott how to not shift. He made notes about his experiences so far with Scott, that it was being triggered by anger or fear and anxiety, all things that would raise the heart rate. He looked into theories and methods to slow the heart rate and made note that pain seems to have been a factor to keeping Scott human or bringing him back, that was something he might be able to use, but maybe not because he wasn’t strong enough to hurt Scott without some tool or method. He didn’t think punching Scott in the face would be enough. He needed something, some way to bring Scott back from the change quickly so Derek wouldn’t have to be in intimidation/scary mode, Stiles understood why Derek was behaving that way probably better than Scott ever would because after his mom died and his dad became the Sheriff there had been days when he would hide his father’s car keys or ID badge so he couldn’t go to work, scared that he would lose his dad too and he didn’t think he could stand that. It didn’t mean that Derek’s scare tactics were going to be at all helpful though.

He went to bed wondering if Scott was going to talk to him at school or if he was going to pout in silence. He fell asleep with a book on his chest and his phone close at hand in case his friend did call. Turns out, Scott thought the silent treatment was the best way to deal with his frustration and supposed betrayal, though he did text Stiles from down the _same hallway_ that Finstock refused to let him sit out from the game and he was going to see Derek after school, something about Allison which was apparently going to be Scott’s first thought of the day from now on, probably his last thought and everything in between. It wasn’t like Stiles didn’t understand, he had been thinking about Lydia since the second grade, stupidly ‘in love’ with her all that time and he brought her into many of their conversations but this was different, Allison and Scott were actually together and apparently, a happening thing instead of something Stiles cooked up in his brain but he did miss his friend. Stiles just sighed and went back to the research about Derek and his family, werewolves and anything about controlling the shift. The best he could come up with really was purposefully raising Scott’s heartrate and helping him learn some basic meditative coping methods though that was much like the deaf dumb and blind leading absolutely no one since Stiles had never been able to calm himself a day in his life, and he struggled with panic attacks.

That evening, after an entire day of awkward silence, he was highlighting some minor sections in his chemistry book, taking notes for the next class when his phone pinged and he scrambled for it, finding a text from Scott: **‘He killed her Stiles, the body is here somewhere. I can smell blood.’**

Stiles rolled his eyes though he couldn’t help but think that if Scott smelled blood, then they might have found the body which would allow the cops to either identify her as Laura Hale to exonerate Derek or figure out that he lied. **‘You can smell blood? What does blood smell like?’** Stiles waited for a second then tapped out another quick message: **‘You’re a jerk.’**

Scott didn’t send anything back so Stiles went back to studying before he flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes, feeling as his toes kept twitching over and over. He tried to remember how much Adderall he’d had today but figured it was barely over his normal dose so he would settle soon enough, just had to wait so he put on some music to block out the world and drifted towards sleep.

The next morning at breakfast he listens in on a conversation his dad with someone at the office about the town curfew that was being put in place because of the murder and he groans all the way to school thinking that finding the body was going to have to be a priority even if it did put Derek in jail. Everyone was freaking that the Sherriff’s department had nothing to go on which put his dad in the crossfire but it wasn’t like Stiles could tell him about werewolves, at least he didn’t think it was a good idea. The Sheriff would undoubtedly keep Stiles away from Scott and then he wouldn’t be able to help his friend though it was also fair to say that his father would just ignore whatever he said and tell Stiles he was talking crazy. Sheriff Noah Stilinski was not a wandering imagination kind of guy, by the book and down to earth were his default settings. Claudia Stilinski was the creative sort, he thought with a sigh and pressed a hand to his chest when his heart clenched at the thought of his mother before quickly discarding that line of thinking, he had other things on his mind at the moment.

They would have to get through the school day before they could try and do anything about the blood or the possible body. He met with Scott and his sniveling friend glared and grumbled about his ‘betrayal’ but agreed that they needed to check this out, deciding on heading to the hospital after school. Scott needed to know that the other half of the body smelled like and though Stiles understood that, he was glad he wasn’t the one who was going to have to sniff a body.

They were both in the jeep after the last bell and after Stiles finally dragged Scott away from Allison when Stiles asked, “So what does blood smell actually like? How can you possibly think that it’s going to smell different from person to person?”

Scott shrugged, “I know that the hunters all had different scents and so did Derek, I could tell somehow that he was like me but this is still so new to me, it’s a little difficult to distinguish it.”

Stiles shook his head, “Then why are we going to the hospital, there was overturned ground and we’ll find out what’s there when we dig it up.”

Scott stared at him, “I need something to check it against. Maybe it was an animal. After all the guy does live in the woods. And he’s a predator.”

“Predator, not killer,” Stiles reiterated though he didn’t know if he was sticking to his guns or just looking for a fight with his best friend after he was such a jerk the previous day though he was trying to be understanding about it, even if it was just in his head. It didn’t make any sense to Scott that his best friend would believe an abrasive, dodgy character like Derek Hale over him but then again, Scott didn’t know what it was like to lose someone and suffer the consequences of that. Stiles knew what it felt like, a piece of his heart had been buried right next to his mother. Derek wouldn’t lie about his sister being the one killed and he loved her, no matter what had happened, they had been family and Stiles looked up information about the pack mentality of wolves. Laura and Derek were the only remaining members of the Hale pack, and if Stiles’ guess was correct, the rest had possibly been killed just for being who they were. Derek wouldn’t kill his sister though he didn’t understand the reason behind burying her when her identity may help the cops get to the bottom of things. So Stiles believed Derek wasn’t a killer but it didn’t make him smart or completely innocent of wrongdoing. Though it’s possible that the grieving brother’s desire to put her to rest was more important than the truth coming out, the only way to find out was talk to Derek who hadn’t been available to chat since he attacked Scott in his bedroom. Stiles was determined to get that guy’s phone number before too long, so he could pick his brain about werewolves mostly and maybe a little about what happened to him if it didn’t get him killed.

“Why are you still going on about this? He buried her there! How is that _not_ guilty?” Scott demanded, flailing around in his seat.

Stiles shrugged, deciding not to get into this now. They would have answers soon enough. He waited a beat then asked a different question, “So playing the game huh?”

“Yes, and you’re going to help me do it.”

Stiles snorted as his thumbs tapped out a harried rhythm on the wheel and wondered why it reminded him of having his fingers over Derek’s pulse, “And why am I doing that?”

“Because you’re my best friend and you promised you would help me with this, I need to play that game Stiles, remember it’s good for both of us.”

“So I should selfishly care about our personal popularity over someone’s life?” he asked, mostly curious though there was a little judgement as well. He was not an angel, he would do whatever needed doing for the sake of Scott’s safety, his father’s safety but honestly popularity had never been on his top five list. The concept of being around the pretty people had only really appealed in a ‘never going to happen’ sort of way, now that Scott was on the cusp, he realized he still didn’t care. He just wanted his best friend back and to survive high school.

“You care more about Jackson than your personal popularity, even if it helps you get closer to Lydia? Just think, all the lunches sitting across from her and getting to know her better for real. Letting her get to know you,” Scott asked with a little waggle in his eyebrows.

Stiles narrowed his eyes and pointed at his best friend because sometimes having someone who knew all your secrets was trouble with a capital ‘T’. He waggled his finger at Scott and muttered, “Low blow McCall. Okay fine but you need to take _all_ the chill pills before you go out onto the field tonight!”

“You got it boss,” Scott said with a sloppy salute and a happy little bounce in his step. Stiles didn’t have to look at the werewolf’s face to know he was grinning that stupid happy puppy grin and he couldn’t fight the desire to smile right back. This was Scott after all, one of the most caring people that Stiles knew and he wanted this so it was hard to deny it to him even if he didn’t agree with the methods. Not even if it was stupid and selfish of both of them. Though his penchant for trying to kill Stiles repeatedly was going to put a damper on their friendship at some point, just not today.

They made it to the hospital and Scott went in through the door and towards the morgue while Stiles sat down and kept an eye out, though he didn’t really know what he woud do if he saw something or even what kind of something he could look for. Then his gaze glanced off of Lydia’s bright red hair and his breathing stuttered, maybe he could talk to her, say something. He sat back against the wall before she could see him peaking, pumping himself up for the opportunity until he heard her talking. He peaked around the corner and she was talking to Jackson, he shook his head at the missed opportunity then listened to them talking. He watched as she accused him of playing the amateur because he didn’t want to take another cortisone shot before the game and then they started making out and he wondered for a second why Lydia wasn’t a cheerleader, he chuckled sardonically at himself. She had all the makings of the cheerleading queen bitch from hell, dating the captain of the lacrosse team and demanding he put himself in danger of doing actual damage to himself because she couldn’t be seen with a loser. He turned back around and jumped as Scott appeared in front of him, grabbing the pamphlet out of his hand.

“Did you get it?” Stiles asked, ignoring the rest of the make out session.

“Scent was the same, the girl’s body is out there.”

“Let’s get going then. We’re going to need a shovel.”

They walked back out of the hospital and towards the jeep. They stopped to get tools then were on their way out to the preserve. Stiles drove down the narrow path to the Hale house, when they arrived Scott nodded to let Stiles know that Derek wasn’t on the property at the moment and he would be able to sniff him out if he came back so they walked around, and Scott led them pretty quickly to the upturned dirt and they started digging. Stiles wondered aloud what they should do if Derek happens to come back while they are trespassing and surely there was something else illegal here going on.

“What would you suggest?” Scott asked, huffing a little at the exertion it took to scoop the dirt up and out of the way.

“We can run in two different directions and whoever he catches first, oh well,” Stiles said with a shrug, knowing that he would be the one caught. Scott’s change into a werewolf made him faster and stronger giving him endurance as well, plus Derek so far had put up with Stiles incessant yammering even for a minute and didn’t kill him, he was sure he could talk his way out or at least get enough time to have his friend come back for him.

Scott on the other hand, replied with annoyance and disgust, “Oh that’s a great plan! I hate that plan Stiles, why do you always have the greatest adventures and the crappiest escape plans?”

Stiles just smiled placidly and kept digging, soon they met with resistance under the dirt and Stiles winced at the thought of where they were hitting the body then moved beyond it quickly, at least she wasn’t alive to feel it. Both teens jumped down into the hole and started untying the thousands of knots, griping about it as they worked on them. Soon the burlap sack fell open to reveal a dead wolf, screaming and launching themselves out of the hole Stiles exclaimed, “What the hell is that? I thought we were here to dig for the girl!”

Instead of screaming again, Scott took a deep inhaled breath and Stiles gagged a little at what the decomp must smell like for the werewolf because it wasn’t that great for Stiles’s weak human nose. Wondering how Scott knew how to pick the scents of what the wolf under the grotesque scent of death, “The scent is different, slightly anyway but I swear there is still the hint of the girl here. Maybe he buried the wolf to keep the sheriff’s department away from the girl’s dead body.” Scott said as he peered down at the black wolf in the hole, like there was more to find underneath.

Stiles looked around, he figured that Laura was a werewolf too though Derek hadn’t confirmed it the night before but this could be proof. He didn’t say anything at first, knowing that they didn’t know enough about anything, Stiles had not seen Scott turn into a wolf so this could be just that—a dead wolf that died in the woods near the Hale house. Though it seemed like too much of a coincidence that the wolf was only half a body as well. The bag obscured the condition of the body but he could tell that much. Looking up from the hole, Stiles sighed at the thought that they still had more questions than answers, then he caught sight of the purple flower and looked over to Scott then pointed it out.

“Yeah? It’s a flower, so what?” Scott asked, still casting glances into the hole.

“So I think its wolfsbane, you don’t know what wolfsbane is?” Stiles waited and watched as Scott shrugged. “You are so unprepared for your werewolf-hood, you are so lucky you have me.” Stiles said as he walked around the hole and grabbed at the plant, pulling it up and out of the ground, only finding a vine of some kind still buried. Stiles started pulling it even as he described the reason he thought it was important, Wolfsbane was all over werewolf lore, sometimes in good ways and mostly in bad, it was a poison possibly and maybe it was the same now or some sort of burial rite. Then when the spiral pattern was finished and they looked again, Stiles dropped the wolfsbane in shock as he stared down into the dead unblinking gaze of Laura Hale, she was battered and dead but it was easy to see that it was her, Stiles remembered her features and everything from even the short time he looked at Derek’s picture.

“He didn’t do this Scott,” Stiles whispered as his friend looked down again and noticed the change with a start, Stiles pressed a hand to his friend’s shoulder.

“Why do you think that?” Scott demanded, aggravated by Stiles’ response even while he kept looking at the body in the grave.

“Because that’s Laura Hale, Derek’s sister. He didn’t do it. There’s no way.”

“How do you know that?” Scott snapped as he tugged his cellphone out of his pocket and looked around anxiously.

“I told you, I talked to him and I also saw a picture of Laura and that’s her. Derek didn’t do this. He couldn’t have done this. He loved his sister and he’s lost so much.”

“Maybe he’s crazy, a sociopath. He did this because he couldn’t handle what happened anymore,” Scott was already dialing someone and Stiles groaned as he reached out and tried to grab his friend’s phone, to see who he was calling but dreaded the fact that he already knew the answer.

“Come on Scott, stop this. He’s not a sociopath; he’s a victim like you are. Someone attacked you, someone killed his sister, why can’t you see that?”

“Stop it! Whether he did it or not, he buried her and that’s a crime, too right?”

Stiles shrugged because sadly Scott did have a point there, “I guess. Who are you calling?”

“Hello, yes I want to report a crime,” Scott rattled off where they were and Stiles tried harder to grab the phone but Scott just grabbed his wrist and twisted it back, forcing Stiles to his knees then down onto his back as he shouted in pain, watching the flash of gold eyes and he relented. He grabbed the wolf’s bane with his good hand, the one not currently throbbing in time with his heartbeat and shoved it into his bag just to have something to do, so he wouldn’t punch his best friend, especially since it wouldn’t even phase the guy. Then without a word to each other, both teens took off towards the jeep and drove away from the scene, if they stayed here they would have to explain how they found the body and though cellphones were a thing of technological excellence, the switch boards at the station didn’t have the power to tell who was calling from where. He didn’t really care whether Scott was following at the moment though he knew he was. They climbed back into the vehicle, Stiles barely giving Scott enough time to get into the car while he favored his wrist, twisting it back and forth to make sure it wasn’t broken or sprained. When they were parked well away from the preserve, Stiles jumped out of the jeep and started walking back into the woods, he needed to know what was going to happen and what his father was going to do. He _needed_ to know that he could speak to Derek about this even though the other werewolf would have no reason to believe him. Scott scrambled out of the car after Stiles and followed behind him for a minute and whispered at Stiles, “I should go home Stiles, we should both just go home.”

Stiles turned back towards his friend, sneering at him. He realized belatedly that this wasn’t just the sensation of physical pain caused by Scott—again. It took more than a second to even guess at what is was and when it came to him, Stiles had no defense against it. There was a rage burning inside him when he sneered at his friend and snapped, “That really fucking hurt Scott, I could hear my bones creaking!” he shouted, still rubbing at the raised bruise of Scott’s fingerprints around his wrist, wondering how he was going to explain that to his father if he saw it. “Now I am going to try and talk to my father, figure out what’s going to happen because that guy that you just called the cops on, he didn’t kill his sister and he was the only reason you were going to be able to ever have some semblance of a normal life, he wasn’t shifted on the full moon—you said it yourself and we both saw it.” Stiles turned back towards the scene of the crime and tried to ignore Scott as his friend followed and he was moving quickly but Stiles could hear the pout in his voice when he spoke again, and Stiles wanted desperately to punch him.

“He’s going to know we were both there and whether or not he killed her is up to the cops, pretty damning evidence there in his front yard though.”

Stiles swung around again, his arms swinging wide in anger and demanded, “Tell me one thing then, did you want him out of the way because of the game and Allison or because you truly believe he killed her?”

Scott opened and closed his mouth, like a hungry guppy and Stiles had his answer. He hated that he knew what his friend’s motives were and that they weren’t very altruistic and he didn’t care that the selfish motivation was going to hurt another person. This had nothing to do with justice for the girl. Scott wanted to be First Line, he wanted popularity and Allison, Stiles isn’t stupid and Scott told him what Lydia had threatened Scott with if he didn’t play the game.

He wanted his friend to have a good life but not at the expense of other people’s safety and Stiles had been stupid too if he thought that Scott could figure this out with only Stiles’ help. It was obviously brought on by his jittery need for Adderall and the time of year but it didn’t make it right or okay. He was an arrogant little prick also for thinking he could teach Scott how to live with this, he wasn’t a werewolf and they needed one. And that was Derek who had wanted to help, before they got his ass sent to jail. So he was going to attempt to mitigate the disaster that was about to fall on all of their heads.

“Just go back to the school, I’ll be there before the game starts.”

“You going to make me walk back?” Scott asked using his puppy pout.

“Oh grow up Scott, if you want to make choices then you are going to have to live with them, this is one of them. I am trying to keep you alive and you are sending our only, albeit reluctant, ally to jail for something he probably didn’t do. So go! I am going to stay here and find out what’s going to happen, which might mean my dad drags me down to talk to him about the lies we already told then so be it. I’ll meet you later okay?”

“You’re going to tell your father!” Scott shouted.

Stiles shrugged then thought about what that would mean. His dad wouldn’t be able to stay out of it, he would need to figure out everything and it would put him in even more harm and he didn’t know if he could handle his father getting hurt.

“Okay,” Scott said after a few minutes of stormy silence, his face portraying all the shock because Stiles shouted at him and scolded him then he turned and started running back towards the jeep and the edge of town. Stiles turned back and kept walking until he was close enough to the Hale house to see what was happening.

He watched from a nearby tree as several of the deputies cars appeared, looking a little mangled from the trip into the forest as well as the slightly more sturdy Sherriff’s vehicle and they quickly located the body that was still unearthed. And then Derek was there and they were arresting him and Stiles groaned. Derek stayed silent, not even defending himself against the things he was being accused of. His dad knew he was there but he was working with the deputies as they got the body out of the hole so while they were all watching and slipped into the front of the cop car and looked back at an extremely sour-faced werewolf in the back seat. He took a deep breath and watched as Derek’s gaze locked on his.

“Okay so your sister was a werewolf but she could turn into a real wolf? Scott can’t do that, or is it that he can’t do it yet? How did she do that? Can you do that?” Stiles took a breath and realized Derek wasn’t going to speak. He sighed, “Look I didn’t want to see this happen, I saw the body and I knew you couldn’t be the one who killed her but Scott…”

“Scott’s the problem here Stiles, when he shifts on the field and you know he will—they are not going to keep cheering. He’s going to get us both killed and you know that.”

Stiles groaned, scrubbing his face so he wouldn’t have to agree about what was happening here, “What if I help him, what if I get him to learn how to keep his heart rate down?”

Derek rolled his eyes, leaning forward, “It won’t be enough! He’s too strong for the people on that field, look at what happened to the other player during practice and Scott was barely touching him. They are going to find out about him and then they are going to figure out about me and we’re all dead. Putting me in the back of this cop car has announced my presence here to the hunters already. I can’t stop him but you can and you are going to want to!”

Stiles’ heartrate picked up because the world Derek was describing was dangerous and he didn’t know if he was going to survive it. Littly puny human. He watched the werewolf’s  gaze drop for a second and wondered what he was looking at, then couldn’t help but to do the same, looking down at Derek’s mouth where it was still and serious, a slight sneer around the edges then looked up again. He was about to speak when someone grabbed him at the back of his jacket and pulled him out of the car. He jerked away, then turned realizing it was his dad so he quickly stopped struggling and shrugged as if to say ‘what are you gonna do…’. The Sheriff groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face before he dragged him away from the door of the car by his arm, the same one that Scott had twisted earlier and he winced away from the contact. The Sheriff noticed and released him.

“So you are going to tell me now what the hell do you think you’re doing here Stiles?” he demanded.

“Well so funny story actually,” Stiles started and the Sheriff looked around the area and raised a brow in his ‘so done with your shit’ look that Stiles had seen often enough to know it really well. He sighed and started again, “We were out here looking for Scott’s inhaler, that he lost the other night when I told you I was alone. We were looking for the body and we saw the disturbed ground and dug it up.”

“What the hell Stiles! Do you have any idea what this could do to the investigation?”

Stiles pulled out his old faithful: sarcasm. “Make it go faster?” he asked.

“No Stiles! Why do you do this? You know what this is called: tampering with evidence! Are you trying to get me fired?””

Stiles sighed and scrubbed a hand over this head and whispered, “No Dad but you know why I do these things. You know why Dad, but right now its not about my shitty coping skills. This is about an innocent man not going to jail for something he didn’t do. He was stupid and grief-stricken when he buried her but he didn’t kill her.”

The Sheriff groaned then recovered but Stiles knew him well enough to see the devastation for two seconds before he schooled his expression back to the frustration that was there before. He didn’t normally tell his dad when his coping mechanisms were running his life and causing trouble, but right now he needed his dad to know that Derek deserved a fair shot despite the circumstances and Stiles’s mistake.

“I will look into everything, we are questioning him about the burial but if you want him to have the best possible chance then leave this alone, do you hear me?”

Stiles nodded and actually meant it when he declared, “I will.”

“One more thing,” the Sheriff said and stepped close enough and pressed a hand into Stiles’ shoulder and pointed at him with the other, “Stop lying to me about these things Stiles, if you need help with something just come to me with it, okay?”

Stiles nodded though he didn’t think he was telling the truth now. The truth was just going to get him a rolling of eyes or thrown into a loony bin or the worst option: just put his dad into more danger since the man would undoubtedly go looking for the supernatural, to see how much he’d been missing in the past. And if Derek didn’t want him knowing about Scott, he definitely wouldn’t want the Sherriff to know about werewolves and Derek was still too volatile about this. He just kept nodding for a second, plastering a grateful expression on his face because he was grateful for his dad and if secrecy kept him safe than that’s what Stiles would do. He left when his dad nudged him away from the car where Derek was still sitting and though he didn’t like the idea of leaving him there but he couldn’t do anything about it. Stiles nodded towards Derek, solemn in the fact that the guy was going to the police station, possibly jail because of what they did but he didn’t have anything else to say. He was with Scott and helped dig up the body, he tried to talk to Derek and keep the werewolf on their side but the game was about to start and he had to be there. Scott needed backup even if he didn’t have the brains to be thankful about the support. He got back to the jeep and got in, turning and finding Scott getting in as well.

Stiles frowned, “Why did you wait?”

Scott shrugged, “Because I wanted to know what happened.”

“They are taking Derek in and he’s desperate to see you not play tonight. Let’s get going.”

Stiles thought about the wolf’s bane in his bag while he started the car and they started driving, “We should look into wolfsbane, see what he might be using it for.”

Scott nodded and he started Googling things on his phone while Stiles drove. It didn’t take long before Scott was panting, barking angry words at Stiles and pressing his hands into the roof, about to dent Stiles’ baby. Scott opened the pack to see the wolfsbane and Stiles quickly pulled over and threw it away from the car. He turned back to see that Scott already disappeared into the woods to escape the flower, Stiles realized that no matter what reason Laura was buried under the flower, it wasn’t a good thing for werewolves.

He took off towards town and headed for the school though when Scott came running in he knew that he should’ve checked Allison’s house first. He finished getting ready while Scott rushed to catch up, “I went to Allison’s,” _Duh!_ Stiles thought but kept his mouth shut as Scott talked, “When I saw myself in the reflection, I shocked myself and realized what I was doing. I jumped down and Mr. Argent hit me with his car. Thankfully the soreness isn’t too bad now though I don’t think it helped with any suspicions he might have about me.”

“You got hit by a car and now your fine?” Stiles asked as he continued getting dressed in his gear and chuckled, “Cool.”

Scott nodded and Stiles sighed, thinking about what Derek said, “I really don’t think you should go out there Scott.”

“I want to play Stiles! I want first line and I want to go out with Allison!”

“I can’t stop you, right?” Stiles asked, knowing the answer already.

“Nope.”

“Then try not to turn, don’t get too angry or stressed out. Try not to think about the fact that Allison is in the stands with her father, who wants to kill you and you don’t want her to know about you. Or Derek and the fact that we put him in jail, plus the fact that he said if you played he would kill you. Or the fact,” Scott turned and stared at him and he petered out and stopped talking, “Sorry, I’ll stop. Just don’t get yourself in trouble out there.”

Scott nodded and they finished getting ready. Stiles hoped to god that they weren’t going to be “outed” in the loudest of fashions on the field. He had no doubt that Scott was going to blow this a little but maybe he could keep it from getting them both strung up and killed in the end.

 

And they did win, Scott turned on the field and got away with it and got the girl which was the most frustrating and awesome thing of all. Scott found some way to control the shift but that hadn’t stopped what Derek had said from being true, Scott used the wolf whenever he needed to, when he wanted to win. And Derek was out of jail, and the body was Laura Hale. He told Scott that, watching his friend swallow convulsively at the fact that Derek might come after him. Pretty soon the rest of the lacrosse team wandered into the locker room and they showered, meeting with Jackson, Lydia and Alison to go for dinner. Danny was there as well so Stiles watched Alison and Scott make googly eyes at each other and sat awkwardly with the others. Lydia and Jackson were sniping at each other quietly so Stiles turned to Danny who were playing on his IPad. “What are you working on?”

Danny looked over at Stiles, eyebrow raised in confused intensity. “Why do you care?”

Stiles shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m curious and I don’t really like most of these people but you’re cool and interesting and have you met me? I have _all_ the questions.”

Danny chuckled a little and launched into a story about this gay site that he helped to build and admin for, “Did you make it all?”

“I don’t know all of the necessary coding to build a site but I can help to build some of the background. It’s good for me to stay busy, if I get curious then I start hacking and get into trouble. It also helps those who might be dealing with the shitty things in life about being gay, I was lucky and I try not to take that for granted by giving back to the LGBT community.”

“That’s super cool,” Stiles said honestly. “How are you Jackson Whittmore’s best friend?”

Danny chuckled, “I know it doesn’t seem like it but when I came out he was there and willing to kick all the asses of anyone who might have hurt me for this. That means too much to me to ignore even if he is a magnificent asshole sometimes.”

Stiles laughed, thinking about that for a minute. Scott, especially lately with his werewolf changes had been a phenomenally idiot but Stiles wouldn’t have left him or given up their friendship because of what they had gone through when his mother died and when Scott’s dad left. So he could understand, though he didn’t ever think he was going to like the guy.

They continued to talk a little, Danny relaxing a little at a time while they ate and Stiles waved off much earlier than everyone else because he had another conversation he needed to get over with before the night was over. He didn’t want to let the situation with Derek get any worse than it already was, and if Scott wasn’t going to beat the older werewolf over the head with an olive branch then Stiles would, even if it was just for Scott’s benefit. He got into the jeep and drove out to the Hale property and waited.

Derek came walking through the woods towards him slow and sure, Stiles just waited as if being still enough under the watchful gaze of the predator before him would keep him from getting killed. Maybe.

“You weren’t charged with murder, what about the burial?” Stiles asked when Derek was close enough that he wasn’t shouting at the wolf. He didn’t think the effort was necessary with werewolf hearing but then again, it was a weird thing to still be getting used to, supernatural senses and whatnot.

“What happened at the game?” Derek asked instead.

“Scott didn’t get caught, he changed because he doesn’t have control but thankfully the hunters didn’t see so here I am. He needs you and he knows that, so do I.”

“Stiles, they know who I am, the last remaining Hale. It would do them well to get rid of me. I am going to have to hide out, I should leave town and leave you two idiots to take care of this mess on your own. I have nothing because of all this, Laura is dead and my house doesn’t exist here, I have no home. What would I stay here for?” Derek snarled in Stiles’ face and he held up his hands in surrender.

“You could stay here and have a pack again,” the teenage returned, “Start with Scott and maybe this alpha is someone you can learn to trust, maybe not the way he turned Scott but you never know. I’ll be here too, I don’t know what for except maybe being your little human mascot but you don’t have to be alone anymore. What do you have to lose by helping Scott?” Stiles asked and Derek glared at him, the green of his eyes shifting to that supernaturally bright blue and he winced.

“I would have nothing left to lose except my life, he’s so idiotic that he is definitely going to get me killed. I don’t think you understand what it means that the Hale pack is mostly gone. This isn’t just about surviving, it about my family name. I am not going to die because of a couple of idiotic teenagers got dragged into this world because you didn’t know _to stay out of the woods when someone died!_ ”

Stiles sighed, he had to get Derek to stay. This was too important and Scott needed him. “What if I found some place where you could lay low, just stay here for a couple more days and I will find you some other place, someplace that the hunters won’t know about, I promise!”

“You’re going to find me a place to stay?” Derek asked dubiously.

“You think I can’t?” Stiles snorted, clearly the werewolf had no idea who he was dealing with. “Just give me a few days, give Scott a chance to come to you and learn from you!”

Derek snorted but crossed his arms and raised his brow, clearly judging Stiles with them. He didn’t care, as long as he stayed and tried to show Scott what the heck it meant to be a werewolf. A werewolf that wasn’t going to get them all killed or kill someone else—which would likely be the wolf’s best friend due to proximity and a seriously faulty survival instinct. Stiles wished he knew Derek a little better, not just the tragedy but the man and the wolf, he wished he knew what would entice him to stay and he didn’t expect it when Derek spoke. “Few days to a week at the most, Stiles, that’s all you get.”

Stiles fist bumped the air and jumped around, grinning like a loon and watching as Derek just stared at him. He watched the older man’s face, catching the small minute tilting of Derek’s lips before he schooled his expression once more and they continued to watch each other.

“I can get him here Derek, I can convince him that it’s his idea to come here, please just hold on for a few days and I am going to find a way. Stay under the radar and don’t get killed.”

Derek snorted, shaking his head a little, “I don’t know Stiles, staying alive wasn’t really at the top of my list or anything.”

Stiles grinned, thrilled at the sarcasm for no other reason than maybe they could make this work. Maybe they could all need each other, be a part of each other’s lives. Maybe they could heal some of Derek’s wounded places, though Stiles didn’t know why he cared except that he wondered if this adventure had the possibility of healing some of Stiles’ wounds as well. “Derek?” he asked suddenly, as his body stilled completely for a moment. The stillness was enough to keep Derek’s attention on him.

“What?” Derek growled, though Stiles didn’t hear any real heat in it.

“Someday, when we are more than growling allies to each other, would you do me a favor?” Stiles realized how important this was because he was still, not something he did very well.

“If that day ever comes, maybe,” Derek answered and Stiles kept smiling. He was so surly and Stiles contemplated the idea of a happy Derek but couldn’t imagine it, was it always going to be like this? He didn’t think so but then it would take time for someone such as Derek Hale to trust again, and that was okay.

“If it happens, will you tell me about her?”

Derek frowned, “Her?”

Stiles cocked his head, “Laura, maybe you would even like to hear a little about my mother? I believe in quid pro quo after all. So? Someday?”

Derek jerked a little like he got hit with a jolt of electricity, it wasn’t something Stiles requested lightly and he knew what it would mean to Derek. He knew how important his part was, that he might be willing to talk about his mother, grief shared maybe wouldn’t be such a heavy load but it took more than what they had now and that was okay, he just wanted Derek to know for whatever reason that maybe he wouldn’t have to be friendless and alone forever.

“Someday,” Derek finally said and Stiles grinned before he watched the wolf walk away from him and into the house, never looking back. He didn’t want Derek to take it back; he would do what he had to, even talk about his mother so Derek would know that he was safe with Stiles and Scott especially about something so integral to who Derek Hale was.


	3. Concerns of Cheating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are consequences to Scott's actions. Stiles and Derek get help from each other on different problems they are having

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so things are changing.... :)  
> Hope it makes sense and you like it.

It was about three days after Scott’s first lacrosse game as a werewolf was when Stiles learned that his friend hadn’t escaped notice completely which didn’t really surprise him at all though the way in which Scott was ‘caught’ was not what he expected. Stiles had spent much of his time since then dropping hints about junior wolf going to see Derek about training but Scott still hadn’t taken him up on it saying, ‘But I sent him to jail, why the hell would he help me now?’ which left Stiles with rolling eyes and clenched fists especially since Derek wasn’t homicidal at the moment, just concerned about being found by the hunters.

And while he was attempting to get the two wolves to see each other he also was on the lookout for something for Derek, so he would stay here and be safe from the Hunters. He knew that Derek needed something that could at least stand as another hideout for him. Stiles had more than once wondered if he could sneak Derek into his house but he knew his dad would know about it sooner or later, probably sooner. He was the sheriff after all and his instincts were really good especially about his home base where his only son resided. Plus the fact that Derek did seem very ‘allergic’ to spending time with other people and wouldn’t have taken Stiles up on the offer anyway.

It was on day of the search for Derek’s new lair when the werewolf jumped into his bedroom through the open window that Stiles finally got the guy’s number and entered it into his phone He wasn’t surprised to find that Derek was using a burner phone, something that wouldn’t be easily traced and Stiles wondered if it had been like this for the guy since the fire. Had he had anything safe and real since then? Maybe he was being ridiculous about this desire to help the guy but Stiles couldn’t seem to help it, there was some weird instinct that demanded that he try to take care of Derek.

So he was thrilled when Derek shoved the small slip of paper at him and grunted as he went back over to the window Stiles asked, “You’re trusting me with your phone number? I thought you didn’t have one to give me?”

“I told you I didn’t have one to _give you_ specifically, not that I didn’t have one at all.”

Stiles rolled his eyes at that, watching the wolf neatly jump back out the window and run off into the dark. He should’ve just told him then that when he dad wasn’t home; Derek was welcome to use the front door but then Stiles was a little curious to see if he would continue to use the window instead. So he started texting Derek, first to find out what he should find the guy.

 **‘No leases, no names, no rent. Nothing that can be traced to me since someone outed me to freaking werewolf hunters.’** That was the gist of Derek’s messages about some place to live.

Stiles should have figured that since Derek had made his home in a burned-out skeleton of his family home to stay out of the grubby mitts of the hunters who clearly had the financial backing to search for him. That was another thing Stiles wished he was an actual legit cop so he could look into the fact that these hunters seemed to have the funds to move to a new town, taking their business with them that wouldn’t even be very lucrative in a small town that had services already in place for guns and ammunition. Where was the money coming from? It was something he added to his list of things to look up when he had some free time, cause that was going to happen any day now.

When he first got Derek’s number he would just send ideas and options to the guy, who had just shot down everything offered which then led to Stiles send ridiculous ideas about where to stay like the boiler room in the high school or the McCall basement. Then he started sending Derek random questions just to see if the werewolf would answer. Sometimes he did and other times nothing came back for hours. When he did answer though Stiles always figured it was a win. He’d learned that Derek’s favorite color was blue though he sent a frowny face along with the answer, like he hadn’t meant to answer and he was immediately regretting the life choice of talking to Stiles. He’d learned also that once upon a time Derek had rooted for football games and baseball games with his father before the fire, he knew enough about stats and so on as well as had a favorite team though it wasn’t the Mets so Stiles didn’t remember what he texted back. He also knew now, not from what Derek texted that he loved and missed his family with everything in him, which Stiles knew because of the man’s inability to answer any deep questions about his years before the fire except in passing like the sports stuff, if it came anywhere near the year leading up to and after the fire it was off limits and sometimes it caused outbursts of anger. A lot of times, Stiles would make guesses and Derek would say yes or no and Stiles was pleased with that.  It was more than the werewolf _had_ to give and the teen was constantly telling Derek ‘thanks’ or ‘I appreciate the intel’ which never got an answer but he said it anyway. Killing someone with kindness always started slow and came with a steady flow of small things and he always made sure to make it feel like him just being inquisitive. It wasn’t about getting every answer now; it was about showing Derek that he cared enough to ask.

Finally, he found something and sent the information and Derek accepted. He didn’t have lacrosse practice the next day so they made a plan to see it after school. He was already ahead for the week though he did know that the gap between where he was in the syllabus and where he was done with the homework was edging closer together so he would have to figure in some time to work on school work soon. He also had a few term papers that he was writing this week because he needed some money soon. It was a good time for the paper orders, they weren’t heavy because it was the start of another semester so most of the time they were easy to knock out especially since he’d written about similar subjects in the past. That always made the term paper business even more interesting to Stiles because he would have to change the language and the specific topic enough that he wouldn’t get caught and he was really good, otherwise he wouldn’t still be making money at this.

He was in the middle of a pretty epic fist bump when his phone started blaring Scott’s ringtone into the room so he picked it up and answered cheerfully, “What’s up buttercup?” as he was riding the high from the success of finding something that fit with Derek’s pretty narrow parameters and in town and he didn’t even think Scott’s incessant yammering about Allison could even bother him at the moment. He didn’t begrudge his best friend the happiness he had with the beautiful brunette but it was annoying to listen about her over and over again.

“Someone accused me of taking steroids!” Scott complained loudly and Stiles moved the phone away from his ear quickly even without werewolf hearing. He was momentarily shocked that Scott’s voice could still get that high, making a mental note to make fun of him later about it.

“Yeah, Jackson does a couple times a week ever since the first week of the semester,” Stiles returned with an inelegant snort. He heard about everything in Scott’s life, more than he needed to know sometimes—especially with Allison so Jackson ‘The Douche’ Whittmore’s opinion of Scott’s new abilities were well documented. Stiles didn’t think anything would come from it though since Jackson seemed to be more interested in finding proof before he made any allegations and Stiles wasn’t even sure he would tell then, the guy just wanted to stay on top.

“No, it was one of the players from the other team, they went to their couch and a couple of them agreed about my skills on the field and they brought it to the school board, I just got the call from my mother saying that I would need to submit myself for a blood test, not because the school is demanding it but because she believes them.”

Stiles shook his head even though he knew Scott couldn’t see him, “You shouldn’t be playing lacrosse until you can study with Derek, and get used to your abilities. I warned you something like this was going to happen but you just had to play. I guess we should be happy it’s not being taken in because you hurt someone else. So what do you think they’re going to find? Anything special about werewolf blood ya think?”

“I don’t know Stiles, I can’t believe my mom believes them over me.”

“You have been different, what with the moon’s curse and all that. She’s asked you about drugs a couple of times. Plus, she’s never home, your teachers see you more not to mention the night outings despite curfews, maybe this is her trying to step up about being your mom, it sucks that your bad behavior is because of being a werewolf but you gotta give the woman a break, you’re lucky to have her there and trying. If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure my dad knows something is going on too and it’s not doing our relationship any favors.”

“When did I become the son she couldn’t trust?” Scott whined.

Stiles rolled his eyes so hard he was surprised they were still in his head at all, “You’ve been lying to her for almost a month now but not only that, we have been getting into shenanigans for a long time but this is the first time those shenanigans have done something to _change_ you. Take the test, they are looking for steroids, they might ignore anything else they find.”

Stiles pulled the phone back enough to put it on speakerphone while he pulled up Derek’s phone number, smiling at the name he’d given the older man ‘Sourwolf’ seemed a fitting choice but he may change it in the future, though probably not. He tapped out a quick message, **‘Scott has to take a blood test because they thought he was taking steroids, will being a werewolf raise any red flags?’**

Scott was talking so he waited to see what he was saying, “… I have to go in to the hospital tonight and do it. What should I even say?”

“Just be quiet and let the test speak for you, being a werewolf isn’t a steroid, it’s your natural—well supernatural ability. You practiced, you got better. If they bring up the eyes, say something about contacts to freak out the competition. Do you know what any of them actually saw?”

“Well I know a couple guys saw my eyes, and then there was the ball ripping through the golly’s net, maybe we can blame faulty equipment for that. I just don’t know what to do about all this, should I just tell my mom about what happened to me?”

Stiles shrugged then answered, “I don’t know man, what do you think she’s going to do? She’s probably just going to lock you up for the crazies.”

“And if I show her?” Scott whispered urgently, “I don’t know, she could help us, shield us sometimes from other parents. I hate lying to her, I hate lying to everyone actually.”

“Look Scottie,” Stiles said then felt his phone buzz with a text message and Scott growled.

“Are you texting while I am having a mild crisis?” he demanded, his voice going high again and Stiles snickered at the crack.

“Scott, I am texting Derek about the blood thing, cool your jets man.”

“Oh yeah? What did the almighty Derek have to say? How long have you been texting the guy?” Scott sneered.

“You know, jealousy isn’t as sexy as people think it is,” Stiles returned amicably, “You’re still the bestest friend of my life Scott. Just calm down.”

With that, listening to Scott sputter and try to find something to say in return Stiles looked down at his phone seeing the message: **“This is why he shouldn’t be in lacrosse without training, people figured out there was something going on and now he’s going to have a spotlight on his back! For a very long time!’**

Stiles sighed, “He’s griping about you playing while you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” Then another message appeared and he read it out loud this time, “Derek says that the blood results shouldn’t be so different that someone will ask too many questions.”

He tapped out a quick message to Derek, **‘Did you go to normal doctors ever? Is that how you know?’**

“You’re still texting him, aren’t you?” Scott asked and Stiles smiled, because it was weird having another person that he talked to, not that he talked to Derek very much because so much of Stiles’s texts went unanswered. He’d always wondered what it would be like to be more than just Stiles and Scott, Scott and Stiles. Here he was in an interesting conundrum, he was the person in the middle, trying to bring the two wolves together but also just enjoying the kind of interchanges he had with Derek sometimes, the other werewolf understood things that Scott didn’t; things that Stiles knew about but had never really had anyone he could trust with those things. Derek had not shared much about the deaths in his family so far and neither had Stiles, but he took some kind of strange comfort in the fact that the other guy was a text message away. He’d never had that with someone who might understand what it was like to have lost his parent.

“Scott, you are still the prettiest princess at the ball, I would never leave you for him,” Stiles cajoled jokingly and Scott stayed silent. And Stiles heard something in the silence that he didn’t really understand: fear. Scott was afraid that his best friend was going to leave him and their friendship for something with Derek though Stiles didn’t understand how a friendship with Derek threatened a lifelong bond between Scott and him. He cleared his throat, hearing and feeling the buzz of his phone and ignoring it while he spoke, “I promise Scott, I’m not going anywhere. Do you need me to come to the hospital with you?”

“No, I’ll let you know. See you at school tomorrow,” Scott said after a few seconds and Stiles was pleased to hear the relief in his best friend’s voice and declared he would try to spend some time with him soon where they weren’t on the werewolf kick, maybe some Call of Duty would have to happen.

“Okay, text me later,” Stiles said and hung up. He looked down at the text from Derek, his thumb hovering over the dismiss button, he could look at it later as if Scott would know the first thing he did was look at a message from Derek but shook it off, realizing the ridiculousness of the thought process. Scott was his best friend and that would never change but Derek was something to Stiles, maybe a confidant or a semi-friend but that friendship did not nullify his life long bond with Scott and he had to believe that otherwise Scott never would so he clicked on the message to bring it up.

**‘We went to doctors very rarely as werewolves don’t get sick but we looked into it. When the Hale pack was much larger, before … we had people in the hospital, maybe knew Scott’s mom, maybe not. We went through some testing especially since it can be required for sports in some places. I went to Beacon Hills for my freshman year and they required a lot of things and though my blood tests never crossed the desk of a gym coach, we had to know if there was anything that would ‘out’ us, and there wasn’t. We just heal too fast to be put into the same care as humans.’**

That had to be the longest thing Derek has ever typed out ever, let alone to Stiles and he was impressed and pleased with the beta’s patience to do so. So he typed out a quick response, **‘Thanks for sharing. Does that mean that you didn’t always go to Beacon Hills?’**

He went back to homework and the plan for tomorrow. He knew that Scott would be calling him later after the test though he wondered if he should just go over there and be with him. He finished polishing a paper for a student at the college and started the transaction easily before he grabbed his jacket and went downstairs. He walked across the hall and found his dad sitting at the kitchen with a bunch of papers and he paused just outside the room. He watched his dad, rubbing his forehead tiredly and wondered how much of this was crap was affecting his father’s ability to function because he was missing half the clues. Stiles walked into the room and sat down and continued to watch his dad. The Sheriff had always been his hero, even when he was knee deep in a bottle of scotch because the man was smart, he could deduce a lot from information on reports and witnesses. This though he wouldn’t be able to solve because he was missing a key piece of information.

“What’s up son?” the man finally asked.

“Whatcha workin’ on?” Stiles asked.

“The animal attacks and the death of Laura Hale. Don’t ask me anymore because I am not going to tell you.”

“I understand Dad,” Stiles dives in before he can think about it too much, “Do you ever think about things that aren’t easy to explain logically? Like mythology and supernatural things?” he asked quickly, gulping in a huge breath of air to keep the hammering of his heart contained, causing him to hiccup a little. He took another deep breath and held it for a second so the hiccups wouldn’t continue. It would make him look and feel even more like a stupid little kid. He didn’t know if this was a good idea and without Derek or Scott, he had no proof anyway. Stiles desperately wanted to give his dad what he needed to beat this thing, to stay alive when faced against insurmountable odds. He was used to bending the truth with his father, about things like what kind of trouble Scott and he could get into or how much Adderall he could get his hands on during any given day but this, Scott being turned and Derek and the hunters; it was a lot to hold back and he didn’t want to see his dad die because he didn’t have the necessary information to make the right deduction.

“What? Stiles, what are you talking about? I’m busy son.”

“I know that Dad, I just wonder if you ever saw something you couldn’t explain and then you thought for a second hey it could be this but that’s insane so there must be another explanation. Have you ever thought that?”

He felt the vibration in his pocket but ignored it for the moment as his father stared at him; his eyebrows tugging down in confusion and the frown lines around his lips more pronounced as he answered, “There’s always an explanation son.”

“What if the explanation isn’t something you are supposed to believe? What about the supernatural answers? I’ve been reading a lot Dad and there is more to this town, this world than I could have ever imagined, I didn’t know…”

His phone buzzed again and his father looked down at his pocket, “Do you need to get that Stiles?”

“No Dad, I’m talking to you. Just talk to me please? I know this is ridiculous but I need you to listen to me. I promise, it’s not a joke.”

“Stiles, I’m busy and you’re not making any sense right now,” the Sheriff demanded, his frustration rising in the face of his son and the conversation. He gripped his pen tightly and the brackets around his lips grew deeper and his jaw tightened while he waited for his son to answer and Stiles knew there was nothing he could do to make his dad believe him right now, maybe this was a bad idea but there was a small part of him that had to keep going.

“Have you ever thought about werewolves, vampires, fairies and stuff like that being real?” Stiles asked quickly letting the words stumble over each other as they reached into the air and he watched as his father looked up at him sharply for a second before he shook it off and refocused on the paperwork in front of him. Stiles frowned because that look said something more than disbelief and annoyance. He didn’t know about the other things that he mentioned but he said werewolves first and his father had looked—something, maybe like recognition or surprise when it come out of his mouth.

But the look was gone before he had a chance to really see what it meant then snorted, “Why Stiles? Do you believe in them?”

“Yeah I do and you know who else did?” Stiles responded, angry all of a sudden when his dad snorted. It was like he was making fun of his son and Stiles couldn’t handle that, “Mom believed and she let me know that it was okay if I believed too.”

Sheriff dropped everything and froze, then scrubbed a hand over his short hair and stayed still while Stiles huffed angrily. He didn’t know if there was anything else he could say, his dad didn’t want to believe and they were better off without him… Though he knew he was just trying to make himself feel better after his dad laughed at him. He missed his mom.

“Stiles?”

“No, nevermind. I forgot for a second, she’s gone and you can’t be her.”

The Sheriff flinched hard as Stiles turned to walk out of the living room and his father stopped him with a hissed out, “Wait!”

He paused, shoulders hunched and waiting for the inevitable shouting to start, his dad didn’t shout at him often but right now he’d allowed his pain and grief to let his mouth run away with him and when that happened there was usually a lot of guilt-ridden conversations and right now Stiles had to get to the hospital and see what was happening with his best friend. His cellphone buzzed again and he grappled with his pocket to quiet it down while he waited, his heart hammering in his chest and nothing to stop it besides getting out of this conversation as soon as he could.

The Sheriff sighed and said nothing and Stiles deflated, he knew it. He knew that it was stupid to think his father would believe him about this especially without proof. The Sheriff was a complete rational person, one who lived within a black and white world of right and wrong, he was a good man and a better detective. So Stiles sighed in return, “I gotta go out so never mind, I was just kidding anyway.” But there was no humor in his voice, his shoulders hunched even farther in as he started walking again.

“Stiles,” the Sheriff admonished clearly seeing that something had spooked his kid but Stiles was already shimmying out the door and towards the front. He pulled his phone from his pocket to see several messages; two from Derek and one from Scott. He opened the one from Scott first because he’d been planning to go to the hospital to be supportive anyway. **‘Stiles, I’m at the hospital, waiting for the blood test to be taken. My mom is here and she’s looking at me with all that disappointment and I can’t stand it.’**

Stiles sighed; ignoring the snort and the silence from his father still ringing in his ears along with the words he imagined were going through his father’s mind at the conversation. _‘Is my son crazy?’_ chief among them. He got into and started the jeep and headed for the hospital. He didn’t even look at the other messages, wondering how mad Derek was going to be when he found out that Stiles tried to tell his father about them. He knew the werewolf didn’t want anyone else to know about him but this wasn’t about Derek, it was about Scott and keeping his dad alive. No matter what his dad’s response was, Stiles hated that the Sheriff had the deck stacked against him but if he didn’t want to believe his son then Stiles couldn’t do anything about that. He couldn’t prove it to him without Scott or Derek’s help and Stiles was sure of their answer already so for now his dad would remain in the dark, and he would keep beating his head against a half-made brick wall.

He drove in silence, not even feeling the desire to turn on the radio to blast whatever was playing on the one good radio station in town because his mind was full of all the things he didn’t know what to do about, he didn’t know if he could deal with Scott being a werewolf, and the hunters and the alpha—who they still had no idea about since apparently it wasn’t Derek. Scott still wanted to blame sour-faced beta for his turning though Stiles figured that if the older werewolf hadn’t lied about all the other things; what would be the point of lying about whether he turned Scott or not. If any of the information he’d found was accurate, the alpha wanted Scott and would want others for power so the alpha would be back and Derek might lie for the sake of the power base if he was the alpha but honestly what would be the point.

By the time he arrived at the hospital, he easily threw on his ‘best friend’ mask and decided on one of his favorite coping mechanisms which was ignoring the conversation with his father. The mask was easy to wear and it was one he gladly wore as often as possible over the years. He walked in through the doors and headed straight for Mrs. McCall’s nurse station and found Scott sulking in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the near vicinity. Stiles flopped down next to him and nudged Scott’s shoulder. Scott just sulked, saying, “I told you I didn’t need you to come here.”

“What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t come and be with you when you are being accused of using steroids because you are actually cursed by the moon?” Stiles whispered with a silly waggle of his eyebrows and watched as Scott scowled at him.

“You’re the worst, you know that?” Scott asked in return.

“Of course but you wouldn’t have me any other way,” Stiles returned quickly, pressing a hand to his chest and batted his eyes as Scott who just shook his head and rolled his eyes comically. Then the teen’s mother walked over and directed Scott off with a nurse and she scowled down at Stiles.

“What are you doing here Stiles?” she asked.

“Why ask me that Mrs. McCall? I’m Scott’s best friend and I am always going to be here for him no matter what’s happening. I am also here to natter on when the tests come back negative because I know they will,” Stiles said this with another saucy wink which Melissa rolls her eyes so hard he wonders if it physically hurts for a moment but does refrain from asking—barely. She’s a nurse, at least if she hurt herself she was already at the hospital and knew all the good doctors.

Then she walks away and he feels his cell phone buzzing in his pocket again and groans, thinking about the twenty minutes that Derek has been waiting for a reply when Stiles was talking to his dad and then driving. The beta was actually making an effort to converse with Stiles for some reason and he had just ignored him not that he’d done it on purpose but still.

He took out the phone and opened the conversation to find several messages all in a row. The first, an answer to his last question: **‘I was at Beacon Hills for a while, freshman and part of sophomore year, then the house burned. Laura was old enough to become my caregiver, instead of being sent to the state but she hated it here. We left for New York, there had been some distant Hale relatives, if not in name then in the family for her to call on. That’s where I went to finish high school and started college.’**

The second was terse, **‘Stop asking questions, I can’t seem to stop myself from answering when they are from you and I don’t like it.’**

Stiles chuckles at that, maybe it was the fact that Stiles kept caring about him and his life, Derek was lowering his guard just enough and now he was clearly not okay with it. It wasn’t surprising but Stiles had no other option except to keep up with his tenacious kindness with the need to open Derek up and let him be close or be a part of Stiles’ world or Scott’s world or even just Beacon Hills a little. It was the worst kind of thing, Derek had been so long without friends or family, he didn’t know how to deal with someone who apparently cared about him, saw more than the surly jackass who spouts poetic about the gift of the bite and reigns down with his judging eyebrows. Then he reads the third message and smiles a little, a soft smile that was usually reserved for when he gets to see Lydia Martin in action right in front of him.

**‘Forget what I said, you can ask me questions. Just not about her, not yet. Please?’**

Stiles tapped out a quick reply: **‘I understand D. I won’t. I was talking to my dad about something and I was ignoring my phone a little. I wasn’t angry or anything.’**

He didn’t have to wait long for a reply, **‘Yeah like I care.’** Stiles snorted at the short message, exactly like Derek to just shut down the seconds’ worth of human interaction. He was just being Derek, something he had every right to be but Stiles wasn’t giving up. So he changed the subject to his evening blunder with his father, wondering if the beta was just going to hunt him down and kill him for this but he hoped not especially since his father hadn’t believed him, hadn’t believed in him which hurt more than it should have. The Sheriff knew that one of the most methodical people he knew was his son but it seemed like his need for maintain the status quo had shut down that part of his father that knew his son would never offer a hypothesis without knowing his chances of being right were already pretty high. He tapped out the message, **‘So I talked to my dad about the supernatural. He’s never going to be able to figure this out without knowing that part but he didn’t believe me.** **L’**

Stiles sighed as he looked around the hospital waiting room, catching sight of Melissa in one of the rooms with someone, maybe a tech or something then she was nodding and then she walked out and back to her desk. Scott trudged back out of the exam room he was in and shoved back into the seat next to Stiles, scrubbing a hand along the back of his neck. There was a small bandage on the indent of his elbow where they took the blood and he looked miserable. Stiles’ phone buzzed again and he looked at it really fast, seeing the text in a banner on the screen; **‘Maybe you don’t know the whole story either, he’s been in Beacon Hills for a long time. You don’t know if him knowing is really going to keep him safe.’**

 **‘What do you mean?’** Stiles returned quickly, frowning.

He waited a few minutes, looking around and wondering if they were going to hear about the test or if Scott was going to have to wait. Mrs. McCall would get them first and once she had them she was going to come for Scott and talk about it. Whether or not Scott used steroids, it hadn’t changed the lies that had brought them to this point. She would demand answers and Scott wouldn’t have any. “What are you going to say to her when it comes back negative?”

“What?” Scott asked, shaking his head a little like he was too busy thinking of something else and he’d forgotten where he was presently.

“Scott, we know that the test is going to come back negative but she’s still going to have questions. What are you going to tell her?”

“I’m going to tell her that they were wrong, I didn’t do what she accused me of.”

“Yeah, that will go well,” Stiles returned with a snort.

His phone buzzed again and he looked down, opening the message. **‘I mean that you shouldn’t try to force the truth on him the way it was forced on you, he’s been the Sheriff for a while. Let him do his job. Let’s just focus on getting Scott trained so he doesn’t have a target painted on his back and that way neither will you. You need to get out of harm’s way before we try to drag your dad into the crossfire.’**

He huffed angrily and Scott didn’t even look at him, caught up in his own world again which just made Stiles madder. Once upon a time, the other teen would have cared that Stiles was dealing with something, enough to ask anyway. He responded quickly, tapping out a reply quickly. He hated the idea of his dad running in circles about this but Derek was probably right, Scott had almost killed him three or four times now and he’d only been a werewolf a little over two weeks. The odds weren’t looking good but he was frustrated and Derek was an easier target for his frustration. **‘Isn’t he in just as much danger, not knowing what to expect out there? He doesn’t know what he’s up against, look how quickly things can spin out of control, like with your family.’** He hit send and then stared at the offending comment and wished he could take it back. He was left wondering how much work he’d just undone with his frustration that had nothing to do with Derek, the remaining Hale was only involved because Stiles asked him to stay, asked him to help with Scott.

He groaned again, pressing his fingers into his eye sockets and scrubbing hard, then slid his hand over his head, feeling the prickle of his short hair under his palm and fingers. Hyper awareness was something he was used to feeling, he didn’t like the feeling though. He didn’t like the shame and the guilt and he knew he had a reason to feel it. Talking about Derek’s family was not on the table and so many people could be hurtful about it, he didn’t want to be one of those people to the other beta. He didn’t even notice whether or not Scott was looking at him now.

He tapped out a quick, **‘I didn’t mean to bring that up. I have no right to compare what’s happening and my dad to your devastating loss. I’m sorry. I will do my best to not let it happen again.’**

Another message comes in as he’s hitting send and they must have been typing at the same time, he looked down and sighed. **‘I understand your fear for him Stiles, just don’t forget that there are risks either way.’**

Stiles grinned, it seemed he was getting a pass at the moment thankfully. Then Scott stood up and he watched as Mrs. McCall walk towards them, his friend’s shoulders were hunched and he looked miserable. Stiles shoved his phone into his pocket and walked over with his friend, “What’s the verdict?”

Scott shrugged and his mother turned to Stiles, “Can you drive him home Stiles?”

He nodded but she continued.

“Then go home Stiles!”

“What?” Stiles shouted and looked around the waiting room nervously and to ignore Melissa’s glare at him.

“I don’t know what the test is going to say, and there will be consequences if it comes back positive but for now Scott is so grounded because I know that he’s been lying to me and his grades are dropping and this girl and lacrosse, it’s like I don’t know my son anymore! Take Scott home then get your ass out of the house, you are not allowed to stay there. Do you hear me Scott? Stiles? If Stiles stays with you then it’s going to be much worse for you.”

Scott nodded and Stiles figured he didn’t have anything he could say about it besides, “Yes Ma’am.”

They walked back out to the jeep and both climbed in, the silence suffocating in the small space. Then Scott spoke, “You’re upset about something?”

“You just fucking noticed Scott?” Stiles shouted and took a deep breath, trying to contain his need to yell at someone about something, his whole life was turned upside down that night in the woods and yet it has been Scott this and Allison that for weeks now and he was sick of it. He’d done what he could to support his best friend and he was just attacked over and over for his trouble.

“Why are you so angry?”

“Because your kind of a jackass! I miss the old Scott, he was a silly and not good at lacrosse and I really miss him. He would have noticed what’s been going on in my life in the last couple of weeks. You haven’t! All you cared about was First Line and Allison and its fucked. Bring back Scott!”

“I can’t go back to the way I was and you promised that you would stand with me,” Scott whispered and Stiles shrugged just as he pulled up next to Scott’s house.

“I am, I was just kind of hoping you would continue to stand by me as well.”

Scott deflated in the face of Stiles’s words. “Stiles.”

“Just go Scott,” he said with a sigh. He’s glad that Mama McCall doesn’t want him to stay, he didn’t think he could right now. “Are you going to do something stupid, like talk to Allison while you mom is on the warpath?”

Scott shrugged, looking down as he reached over and pulled on the door handle. “We didn’t make plans and it wouldn’t matter anyway, Mom took my phone.”

Stiles nodded, glad that maybe his friend was going to be in less trouble if he just walked into the house and left her alone. Scott waited a beat and Stiles didn’t say anything else then he got out of the jeep and went inside. Stiles watched, slamming his hands on the wheel before he put the vehicle into reverse and drove towards home. He parked and walked up to the door, grumbling at the fact that his dad was here and he was going to have to walk right by him, ignoring their conversation from earlier. He heard him shout out, “Stiles!”

“Night Dad,” he shouted back and walked upstairs and shut the door behind him, head down and breathing hard and he hated this. He hated when he couldn’t control the emotional/stress response. He leaned over and pressed his hands to his head and wondered how everything this morning, finding something for Derek and school was going well had turned into his dad not believing him about this and Scott getting drug tested and now they were fighting.

“Are you alright?” someone asked and Stiles slammed up right, his head meeting with the door, with a hiss and stars behind his eyelids Stiles groaned and blinked away the tears and the pain enough to see Derek standing next to his desk chair, he was looking at the scratches along the back from Scott’s tantrum a week ago, his fingers sliding along the frayed leather. Stiles needed to fix it otherwise he dad was going to see it and then it would just be another confusing thing for his dad to not believe him about.

“What are you doing here?” Stiles demanded sharply, his voice breaking a little from the scare he had as well the thump to his head. He rubbed at the bump and stared at the offending werewolf just hanging out in his bedroom.

“I came to check on you, see if you would like to show me the place now?”

Stiles frowned, “Why?” he drawled slowly.

Derek shuffled his feet nervously then pressed his hand to the scratches on the back of the chair, “Did Scott do this?”

Stiles nodded, “Don’t change the subject, why are you here now? We can’t go there now, I was going to go to sleep and now I am just going to pass out from my brand spanking new head injury, thank you very much. I will see you tomorrow to show you the place hopefully.”

“Stiles,” Derek started and stopped. Stiles looked up and stared at him, watching for whatever the hell was happening right now. Derek was here in his bedroom, looking at his bare feet…

Bare feet…

Why did Derek have bare feet in his bedroom?

“Where’s your shoes?” he asked finally after a couple of seconds with his mouth opening and closing like a fish, his hands gesturing down at them emphatically, remembering vaguely that his dad was just downstairs and he didn’t need to know that Derek was in his room at the moment.

“I’m quieter without them,” Derek said with a shrug, “Stiles. The hunters came after me at the house, I had to park my car somewhere because they damaged it, broke out the windows and popped a couple of the tires, that was Laura’s car—a gift for my eighteenth birthday and they tried to destroy it.”

Stiles stared at the older man, mouth falling open that he was actually talking to Stiles about this.

“I can’t stay at the Hale house anymore, they have someone watching the property and I barely made it out without being tailed and I promise no one saw me getting in here, I am really good at stealth. It was the one thing that Laura made me learn. I need a different option now otherwise I’m leaving town. I had a life back in New York and without Laura, there isn’t anything here for me.”

Stiles shook his head as he pushed away from the door and walked over to Derek. He stood toe to toe with the werewolf and stared into those light green eyes, “You do have something here, something you could build on if you only take the time to stay. Help Scott find himself again, help yourself find something new. You said he was your brother now, well he’s been mine for a lot of years and we don’t leave each other when the going gets tough, we stick around for each other. Just stick around!” Stiles wished he believed what he was saying right now, but the scene outside the McCall residence kept repeating in his head.

“You know what I just heard?” Derek whispered, stepping a little closer.

Stiles tried really hard not to step back, “What?”

“Your heartrate changed right as you were saying that brothers stick together. You think he won’t stick around?”

Stiles took another step back, “Stay out of my heartrate and my feelings, I have every right to worry about that but its none of your business!”

Derek reached out and took in handfuls of Stiles’ clothes and slightly lifted him up off the ground, “You think after all that you have done to keep me here, to give me reasons to believe I have something here, that means that your feelings and your heartbeat is my business because if you believe that he will leave you behind then what about me? I wish I could have a pack again, that I could trust it to last! I am the only one they know by name. The hunters knew who we were in the past and they know me now. They are going to keep tailing me until I find something they don’t know about. You already have a possible place, why can’t we go there now?”

Stiles shrugged, “Because I am a growing boy and I need sleep every once in a while. I have school tomorrow,” he reached up and patted at Derek’s clenched fists that were still gripping him and the young man immediately dropped him to the floor again, causing Stiles to stagger a little at the force of the drop. He shook his head a little, “Look my dad is going to be leaving in a few, going to be gone most of the night and late tomorrow morning, just stay here on the floor or something and we will head out first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll just be late to school.”

Derek frowned, “You want me to have a sleepover with you?”

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Stiles said, rolling his eyes so hard at the snide ignorance of Derek’s tone. Like sleepovers were something to be embarrassed or upset about but then again they did have more than a few years between them. Though that would only matter if they were going to do something other than sleep in the same room and that wasn’t an option. This was just a place for Derek to be safe, something that Stiles could offer to him for one night. He didn’t say anything else, just letting the other man consider his limited options.

“Fine,” he growled. Stiles grabbed clothes and walked down the hall to the bathroom. He changed quickly into his sweats and t-shirt, then brushed his teeth and took care of his nightly ablutions before heading back to his room. He opened the door, slipped through and looked around, not seeing Derek until he walked towards the bed and found him on the far side of the bed, there was Derek’s folded jacket under his head and he was still in his clothing.

“Do you want anything? We have some extra blankets and I have about seventy-two pillows on the bed, but you can’t have this one,” he said holding on of them close. “This is my pillow, I always sleep with it, the others though are free game.”

Derek shook his head, “I’m good, don’t know how much I’ll sleep in a weird place anyway, just go to sleep and we’ll get me out of your hair first thing in the morning.”

Stiles nodded, turning to lay down and get comfortable in his bed, wrapping the blankets around him, up to his neck before he stared at the ceiling and tried not to fidget though with a werewolf in his room, his heartbeat was going to be heard, let alone anything else and he just didn’t have the self-control required to lay still in bed. Trying to lay still was just making him antsy and he went back to trying to count out the Adderall he’s had in the past couple of days because he did it a lot of times at night, cataloging his symptoms, trying to make sure than any adverse reactions were noted in his journals so he could slow his dose or take more, determined by the severity of the symptoms, he wasn’t stupid he knew exactly the kind of unhealthy coping skills he had around the time of his mother’s death and the best thing he could do, and the reason he had a few contacts for the stuff was because he was pretty well maintained despite the misuse.

“You’re not sleeping,” Derek murmured gently.

“Yeah, I have been taking extra doses of Adderall and it makes it difficult to sleep sometimes.”

“Why do you take it then?” Derek asked, he sounded growly but not like he was judging Stiles so he figured if anyone would understand about coping it would be the man lying on his floor right now though Derek was clearly more of the morose sit-in-a-silent-corner type instead of the keep ridiculously busy to the point of collapse type. It was possible that he was making an assumption and it was incorrect as well, Stiles had no clue what kind of coping mechanisms had.

“I take it so I can concentrate, I have ADHD but it helps to calm a lot of my symptoms which are normally worse this time of year.”

“This time of year?” Derek asked, again curious and calm. The soothing sound of the wolf’s voice was enough to calm Stiles a little at a time. His feet weren’t twitching anymore, his fingers were stilling and his back wasn’t as tense. So, he kept talking because it was better than laying there in twitchy anxiety.

“My mother, I told you a little about her, she got sick and died this time of year. It only took a couple of months before she was gone and even now, after all these years it can be really hard for me.”

Derek was quiet, the silence was starting to make Stiles twitch again and he wondered if he’d said too much, that he shouldn’t have shared that with Derek, it gave him too much over Stiles and it was too soon. It was stupid to think that Derek would ever share anything with him and now he’d put his feelings and his own trauma out there for the werewolf to see. Stiles’ thoughts were starting to spin out of control; his breathing taking a turn towards panicky and Derek shushed him.

“Stiles,” he growled and the teenager huffed awkwardly because even Derek’s growling voice was better than the silence. “Your heart rate is spiking, calm down.”

“Yeah okay,” Stiles said with a snort, even though he could feel his body listening anyway.

“You don’t ever have to get over the loss of your mother but sometimes the coping strategies that we use can end up doing more harm than good. I cannot presume anything about your mother but I cannot imagine she would wish this three-month long struggle on you every year.”

Stiles sighed then frowned, closing his eyes as he continued to drift closer to sleep, “Why are you talking to me anyway?” he asked.

Derek snorted, “You once said that you wanted us to be more than growly allies or non-friends. I was just seeing what it was like for a minute.”

“Yeah? How was it?” Stiles asked with a lazy grin, it stretched his cheeks but he didn’t open his eyes. He was drifting and swaying towards sleep, everything settling in the comfort of someone else being here with him and he didn’t even try to understand that for the moment.

“It was weird, I don’t know if I like it,” Derek grumbled and Stiles couldn’t help the tired chuckle slipping free from his lips. Derek snuffed something that could have been a laugh when it grew up a little but for now it was something. Maybe sharing a little bit of him and his mother with Derek was a good thing for now. “My family died in January too,” Derek whispered and Stiles’s eyes snapped open in surprise but resettled as quickly as he could. He didn’t want to spook the other man.

“Weird,” Stiles said instead. With that thought, Stiles slipped into unconsciousness secure in the knowledge that Derek was safe and in town for one more night.

Derek settled in for the night, listening to the subtle changes in the sound of Stiles’ breathing and his heart rate and he wondered why he would come here. There was no reason this was a good idea, involving himself with Stiles any further, it was barely a good idea to involve himself with Scott who didn’t want to be involved anyway. Except there was something about him, a subtle maturity that comes from a tragedy, the loss of his mother and it was something Derek knew he could relate to. It had been so long since there was someone other than Laura that he could talk to, who cared about him beyond that of his sister. She had been everything to him after the fire, all the family he had left except for Peter and seeing him like that for year after year, knowing that his uncle could be trapped like that until he died had killed Derek a little every time they came back.

But now, this kid Stiles, wanted him to stay and maybe build a pack again. It was something he had never been interested in doing, Laura was the alpha after their mother and it was always going to be like that. With her gone and some random Alpha out there biting people, it didn’t make him want to stick around but for some reason he was drawn to this place. Drawn to Stiles.

He hated this town, Beacon Hills destroyed his family and he had a life started back in New York. The insurance on the house and everything as well as the Hale money, gave him enough to live and never do anything but he’d been in college for business management but he didn’t know yet what he wanted to do. Though it didn’t change that there was nothing here in Beacon Hills that he should want to stay for but now that Stiles cared enough to ask it was hard to say no. He did want to see what Scott might be capable of but there was something about Stiles that Derek didn’t understand. It was like gravity and it frustrated the hell out of the werewolf. He wanted to know _why_ he was acting this way but there didn’t seem to be answer forthcoming but at least he would have somewhere else to be that wasn’t the Hale house. It was too easy, people could find him there and he didn’t dare think about what the hunters would do to him if he let himself be found again. And sometimes when he was curled up in the corner of one of the rooms, around the edges where there was still a ceiling, Derek swore he could still smell the burning flesh of his family, he could still hear the screams as they died. He had been close enough that he got home and it was engulfed, he couldn’t enter and help them but it was enough to remember the smells and the sounds and the desire to run towards the door and rip it open against the burning heat of the fire as Laura screamed at him to get away from the house.

Running inside hadn’t done anything to save his family, all it did was burn him up and land him in the burn unit, under the watchful gaze of their healer for days upon days while Laura cried and made the arrangements for the funerals and for Peter’s care.

So now to feel this pull back to the town that hosted his nightmares and fears was wrong and he wanted it to stop. And even as he thought that, he couldn’t help but feel the pull into the rhythm of Stiles’ heartbeat, tapping it out on his chest and allowing it to lull him to sleep. He couldn’t leave Beacon Hills, not while there were so many unanswered questions, he needed to find out what happened to Laura and he needed to stay for Scott but the real reason that he was willing to stay was the annoying little shit only a couple of feet away because he cared about Derek and that was something he was willing to stick around for. Even if it meant he let go of some of his walls. Maybe it was time.

Going to sleep to that gentle sound of Stiles’ heartbeat and breathing suddenly wasn’t that hard anymore. He slipped off, wondering how they were going to get out of the house without Sheriff Stilinski knowing he was here, unless the man just left his son alone in the morning. He figured that Stiles would just have to work that out.

 

Stiles slammed upwards into a sitting position and gasped, hand over his chest as his heartbeat pattered at an intense rate and he groaned, slamming his head into his hands with the intention of allowing the pain to subdue the terror. He patted his forehead a couple of times with the heel of his hand because the first slap didn’t do anything to send away the pictures in his head, the one of his mother deathly pale and staring up at him with sightless eyes. He remembered sitting next to her, sleeping in the bed next to her as a small child and when he woke up, she was gone. There was nothing he could do, all the research he’d done about her sickness, every day he spent with her in the hospital instead of at school had pushed back his studies to the point that he had to retake a year of school, though it put him in the same class as Scott early enough that they hadn’t been separated more than a year or two and when they were younger and had first gone on a play date together both boys had decided that the one year age difference would never matter to either one of them.

Then there was a hand on his shoulder, at the curve of his neck and he jumped, having forgotten there was someone in his room. He shuddered a little and the hand moved away but it just caused him to whimper a little, “It’s okay, I just had a bad dream.”

Derek nodded, Stiles watched out of the corner of his eye then struggled out of bed to pace around the bedroom for a minute. Derek just stayed where he was, kneeling next to the bed and Stiles wondered why he stayed on the floor if he’d been woken up Stiles’ nightmare. Then again he was a surly male wolf, probably didn’t want to be too close to a freaking teenaged boy.

“I’m gonna go and make some breakfast, maybe some muffins? You should stay here, you can take the bed if you want.”

He watched Derek, the frown at the center of his ridiculous eyebrows. His gaze sidled over to the clock and then back to Stiles, “It’s really early, why don’t you try to go back to sleep for a little longer?”

Stiles shook his head, “No you don’t understand, I saw her! I can’t do that again!” he whispered harshly, he didn’t know if his dad was home yet but he didn’t want the Sheriff to come rushing in here and find Derek here. Stiles had no idea how he was going to explain that if they were caught.

Derek gestured harshly at Stiles then towards the bed and he sighed and walked back over to flop down on the mattress, wondering why he was letting Derek Hale put him to bed. Derek didn’t touch him again but Stiles could feel him hovering just out of reach and Stiles groaned, “What?” he slurred out between mouthfuls of his pillow, the word slightly muffled but still understandable at least.

“I dreamt of them too, all the time. Still do sometimes.”

Stiles held his breath at those words; Derek was talking to him, opening up like he had last night. It was just a tiny bit but it was more than Stiles had ever dreamed to hope for. Stiles shifted so he could look over at Derek who was still kneeling at the side of his bed. “How do you deal with it?”

“Sometimes I didn’t sleep, sometimes I slept with Laura which I can’t do anymore. A lot of times I run, other times I work out.”

Stiles grinned, “Is that why you’re so muscly?”

Derek snorted, “Yeah, though werewolf metabolism means that we stay pretty fit as well. I mean you don’t see a lot of fat wolves either.”

“Wouldn’t know,” Stiles mumbled and closed his eyes, “You slept in the same bed as your fully-grown sister while you were a teenager? Isn’t that a bit hinky?”

Derek frowned at him, like the word didn’t mean anything to him and then it did and he growled. Derek growled at Stiles for saying the word hinky in reference to his sister and Stiles couldn’t imagine anything more charming at the moment. He snickered and listened when Derek spoke, “It’s different in pack families, we gain a lot from physical affection, we need it to feel okay, before they were gone—,” Derek took a deep breath, coughed a little and started again, “Before that thing, we would still sleep in the same room and sometimes the same bed as our parents, it wasn’t all the time because we were all getting to an age where we were becoming independent but the desire to be close is always with me, with a wolf.”

Stiles thought about that for a minute then he closed his eyes with a sigh, “I would maybe be okay if you put your hand on my shoulder again, just for a minute while I am trying to go back to sleep?” He made the request because he too missed the physical connection he and his mother had together, even after all the time that she’s been gone but partially to let Derek know that if he needed it, the touch wouldn’t be a bad thing. Stiles went back to sleep with Derek’s hand resting on his shoulder, not moving but just settled there like that was truly all the both of them really needed. And he didn’t dream again amazingly. Most of the time, if he had nightmares once then he would continue to have them. The comfort of the other man was something he’d not experienced yet in his short life, not even with his father who’d been gone more than he was around sometimes.

When he woke again it was a normal time for him when he was going to school. He was doing well so missing his morning classes wouldn’t cause too much trouble besides Scott would have a conniption. Stiles stumbled out of bed and downstairs so he could make some breakfast, eggs and toast and hoped it would be acceptable to Derek. He looked out front and saw that his dad wasn’t back from the station so that would at least take out the awkwardness if his dad realized that Derek had slept in his room, it was one thing to have a guys’ night with Scott but it was quite another without some sort of explanation about a twenty-two-year-old man, especially on a week night.

He took both of the plates back up to his bedroom and opened the door, stopping when he noticed that Derek had climbed up into his bed and had his face pressed into one of Stiles’ pillows, eyes closed and breathing deep.

“Derek, I got some food for you,” he said and the older man opened his eyes and shook off the sleep in him. Stiles sat down on the side of the bed and waited another minute while Derek sat up and yawned, “Sorry, it’s been a couple of weeks since I was able to sleep in a bed and I got a little too comfortable. I should have known you were coming into the room.”

Stiles smirked since Derek hadn’t even apologized for climbing into his bed though Stiles didn’t care, he was okay with the idea that Derek was safe here even for a short catnap, it was what he wanted for this Sourwolf that he was trying to call a friend.

“My dad’s not here so you don’t have to climb out the window if you don’t want to. Did you want to drive over to the property in my Jeep and you can go get your car later? I am going to have to leave you to your wanderings to go to school, I shouldn’t miss the whole day. Scott won’t like it either especially since he’s grounded at the moment.” Stiles asked while they both ate. Derek picked at his food, munching on the toast and shoveling the eggs into his mouth as quickly as possible while Stiles watched him in confusion.

“That’s fine,” Derek said between mouthfuls.

“I can make you something else if you like, I just assumed.”

Derek shook his head, “No, thank you for this. I haven’t had food cooked in a kitchen in a couple of days, it’s hard to trust even the diners not to spread rumors and information getting back to the hunters and without anything to cook on, it’s been canned food that’s cold. My stomach is a little unsure but at the same time this is just fine.”

“You talk more than I thought you could,” Stiles replied with a snort, happy that the werewolf was talking to him at all especially with the way everything started the day after Scott was bit and Derek being taken away in handcuffs for something he didn’t do. Not to mention, Scott’s continued stubbornness to not work with Derek and his weird jealousy of the guy, there is also a possibility that he was concerned about the idea of another authority figure in his life because of his father. Stiles was pretty sure that kind of dynamic wasn’t going to make them the best of friends ever but at least they could hopefully work together sometime soon for Scott’s sake and for Derek’s.

“Maybe that’s because you don’t know how to shut up,” Derek said with a glacial glare pointed over the edge of his toast and a flash of his eyes.

Stiles laughed, not at all concerned with the supernatural flash of his eyes, and finished his eggs before putting the plate down next to the door and bouncing over to his closet and dragged out some jeans and a t-shirt, some band on the front of it as well as one of his button-up flannel over shirts. He wondered if Derek was keeping his clothes somewhere or had he just been living out of his car up till now.

He stopped by the door, about to leave and go to the bathroom and asked, “Derek?”

The werewolf looked over at him, his dark green eyes latching onto Stiles’ gaze, something that he thought should be intimidating as hell but he’d already stared Derek down multiple times and this time there was something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before—understanding.

“Thanks for staying,” Stiles finally said.

“Here or in Beacon Hills?” Derek asked.

Stiles grinned, “Both, it’s nice sometimes knowing that there is someone out there that can maybe help Scott but also knowing that you are nearby helped me a lot last night and even if it doesn’t give you any sort of peace or something, knowing someone who lost someone helps to ease the isolation I tend to live in.”

“I know isolation,” Derek said with a self-deprecating snort, “I know you just have your dad and Scott, maybe even Scott’s mom but that’s something. You don’t have to isolate from them, do you?”

Stiles shrugged, dropping his clothes and thought about that for a minute. He didn’t want to isolate himself from his father but at some point, they had started this game where they don’t talk about her and it was hard to break out of that rhythm because it was like his dad needed them not to talk about her and Stiles didn’t like to relive what had happened and that he had been alone. He also knew that his desire to protect his father’s cholesterol is some bizarre coping mechanism that said he wouldn’t have to say goodbye to his father too. They lost her at the same time but then again they were both alone in this, each of them choosing to shy away from the other. He wondered what it was like to live in a pack where the closeness was something almost biological, something that would have kept his father and him close. Stiles kind of wished he could have that need for closeness, to have more than just Scott and his dad. A pack. All of them there, not letting him do this thing alone anymore.az

Stiles didn’t hear Derek as he moved, pressing a hand to Stiles’ shoulder and he jumped at the contact, pushing back against the closed door. Derek held his hand up in surrender, as he spoke, “Didn’t mean to startle you or push you about something. Don’t lose your remaining parent or your brother because you don’t know what to say or what they should say.”

Stiles nodded, “I will only agree if you promise to stay and try to build something here, make something of this town that isn’t your family’s tragedy. Okay?”

“God you’re annoying!” Derek growled and Stiles snorted as he leaned down to grab his clothes and opened the door.

“Have you met me?” Stiles returned with a chortle and Derek sighed in that I’ve-had-enough-of-you kind of way that would have made the Sheriff proud. Stiles went to the bathroom and showered quickly, getting dressed and wandering back to his room only to find Derek was gone. He frowned, grabbed his keys and phone and headed downstairs as he checked his phone. Derek’s message was the first thing he saw and opened the message; **‘I am outside, waiting for you. Hurry up.’**

Stiles rolled his eyes and leaned down to slipped on his sneakers and grabbed his red hoodie before walking out the front door. Derek was there; leaning against the passenger side of the jeep and Stiles couldn’t help but grin at him, the leather jacket and the rumpled hair, with a day’s worth of stubble made for an attractive image.

Stiles figured it was a good time to look up the Kinsey scale again and see if anything had changed for him, it had been a long time since he’d looked at a boy or a man and did anything other than wonder why he didn’t look like them instead of the mole-dotted gangly freak but he did have a weird obsession with Danny, not like a I-want-to-hit-that feeling but just an appreciation for the lifestyle and some weird Kinsey scale desire to be attractive to gay guys, Scott and he had had that conversation more than once and Scott normally just ignored him about it much to Stiles’ displeasure.

Stiles shook off the Adderall soaked train of thought and walked over to unlock the jeep and get in, leaning over and letting Derek into the passenger seat. “You ready to see your new place?” he asked excitedly.

Derek snorted, “It’s not going to be my ‘new place’ just the place I stay at for a while. I am still going to have to return to New York at some point and I don’t know if staying here is a good idea with the hunters here.”

“You promised,” Stiles grumbled.

Derek snorted, “We’ll see Stiles.”

Stiles started the jeep and they drove out of the driveway and headed towards the warehouse district and he was sort of glad they were doing this when most people were in school or at work because they knew they weren’t followed and it was a quiet drive. This place was something Stiles had happened upon, almost by accident. Some of the warehouses remained empty, they were enclosed and there was a possibility that Derek could remain in one for a period of time without being discovered there. That was the plan anyway, plus he could just open the warehouse doors and drive the Camaro inside and then nobody would know where he was because of the very recognizable vehicle. He thought about Derek being open enough to share that Laura bought him that car, he wondered why Laura bought him that when they had been trying to lay low.

“Can I ask about the Camaro?” Stiles blurted out suddenly.

“What about the Camaro?” Derek asked, looking out the window while they drove. He undoubtedly knew the area and figured out where they were going but he wouldn’t know the exact location probably.

“Why would she give that to you if it’s so recognizable, weren’t you both running all that time?”

Derek sighed, “She wanted us both to have a real life, she wanted me to have something so she had it shipped from here. She left me at the time and came back to Beacon Hills to check it out and get it sent to me in New York. It belonged to our father. She wanted me to have it. I know it’s stupid to drive it, when my name has been outed for a while now but I didn’t want to leave it behind. It wasn’t just my transportation, it’s a small remaining piece of my family legacy.”

Stiles nodded, “Makes sense. It’s not stupid to want it close.”

Derek didn’t say anything else.

When they stopped outside the building and walked in through the back-door Derek looked around, Stiles did as well though he’d seen pictures of it on one of the Beacon Hills Newspaper article about these warehouse buildings being shut down or closed up, due to some growth and changes around the town. This one specifically had been part of the train depot where they could work on the engines and the train cars. There was a battered broken down train car on one side, the walls were thick and there were barely any windows in the building at all. There was the one door plus the front that was large enough to fit the trains leaving and coming so the werewolf would easily be able to bring his car in there before sliding down the metal door that reminded Stiles of a garage door. Same roll down and up concept.

Stiles walked over to the train car, inside it was pretty well in a normal shape though the whole place looked a little like there had been a few high school drinking parties here. Derek would undoubtedly make it inhospitable to drunken teenagers if he decided to stay here.

“I don’t really think of this as a final place for you to stay, I think that we can all work together on this whole hunter thing and get you into an actual place. But for now, this would be better than the Hale house, wouldn’t it?”

Derek was still looking around, checking the walls and the steel beams while Stiles walked all the way inside the train car and walked to the back where there might be room for Derek to create some sort of bed and he determined that maybe he could bring some pillows and blankets for the guy to start with.

Then he turned to walk back out again and Derek was there, standing in the way of the exit from the train car. His gaze was as stoic as usual, though his light green eyes seemed to only grow more expressive the longer Stiles knew him, they were a little softer though all the comforting walls were still up, there were maybe a few bricks less. He stepped forward, as Stiles walked over to him and smiled, “Do you think you can make this work? You could even train Scott here, maybe? There would be enough space for it.”

Derek reached out and touched Stiles shoulder, patted it awkwardly making the teen laugh as the werewolf spoke, “This is will do Stiles. Thank you.”

Stiles fist bumped into the air, dislodging Derek’s hand and they walked back out to the jeep and Stiles offered to drive Derek back to his car, wherever he left it but the werewolf declined. Stiles just drove home instead and watched as the older man walked away, raising a hand for a wave on the way as his phone started ringing. He figured he would grab his pack and head to school, he thought as he answered without looking, “Stilinski Real Estate, you build ‘em, I’ll sell ‘em! How can I help you?”

“Stiles,” Scott scolded in his I’m-the-perfect-and-well-behaved-judging-friend voice, “Not funny right now man. So there was a problem here and I did something really stupid but I didn’t want her to think I was a liar and a drug addict!”

“Whoa, what’s going on man? It’s pretty early on a weekday for this kind of drama, dontcha think? Why aren’t you at school anyway?”

“I couldn’t leave after I told my mom!” Scott screeched and Stiles pulled the phone away from the side of his face and he sighed. He pressed his fingers into his eyes and groaned. He didn’t know what to do about this and he figured if Scott was calling then he should just go over and be the best friend even though Scott owed him an apology, apparently, he wasn’t going to get it but he could hold up his end of the bargain and be there for Scott when the new werewolf needed him. He let Scott yell in his ear for the short trip from the Stilinski house to the McCall’s. He hopped out of the jeep, locking it mostly because his bag was in the passenger seat and his laptop was inside and he didn’t have enough money saved to replace it if it got stolen.

“I’m outside, come let me in,” Stiles shouted over Scott’s caterwauling on the phone. He heard thundering steps from inside and Scott breathing heavily on the phone from his nervous breakdown. Then the door opened and he walked inside, hanging up the phone as Scott walked back up the stairs to his room but then they stopped in front of Melissa’s bedroom.

Then he pounded on the door, “Mom, please come out and talk to me? Stiles is here, maybe he can tell you about what it’s been like for the last couple of weeks. Please just come out and talk to me.”

There was nothing for a couple of minutes then the door opened, Melissa reached out and dragged Stiles in, closing the door and locking it between them and Scott. Stiles just stands there for a minute, hands shoved into the pockets of his red hoodie, wishing he had something to futz with besides the keys and phone in his pockets. Mrs. McCall’s eyes were wide and red like she was crying and they were filled with fear and Stiles didn’t think he’d seen that since Scott’s dad left when they were younger. That was a time in the McCall house that Stilinski was okay with never repeating, he thought with a shudder.

“Hey Mrs. McCall,” he finally said with a nervous wave through his pocket. Stiles wanted to crawl away from her in embarrassment since he apparently couldn’t even wave at her, speak to her normally because this was some heavy shit that they were wading through and what the hell was he supposed to do or say to convince her that her one and only little angel of a son wasn’t the monster she was probably thinking he was.

“What the hell is he on? Just tell me Stiles so I can get him some help!” her voice was pitched low but it was slightly this side of hysterical and Stiles reached out, then pulled his hand back. He didn’t know if he should touch her, comfort her because he was about to corroborate her son’s story and then she was going to think he was insane too.

“Did he show you?” Stiles asked.

“He said, ‘I was bit and now I’m a werewolf.’ He didn’t show me anything.”

Stiles face-palmed at that, sometimes he wondered how Scott could be the sweetest most kind hearted person alive with an unwavering moral center but then he does something like that. Then again it wasn’t like there was a 101 on telling your mother about the supernatural and the fact that you are one now. It wasn’t like he had done any better with his dad the other night and he wasn’t a werewolf, “Did you give him a chance to show you anything or did you come in here?” he wanted to be more abrasive then that but Mrs. McCall had always been a mother to him, in small ways over the years and he had no desire to hurt her with his normal lack-of-tact way of dealing with people and situations plus he didn’t think he could deal if she was going to start crying.

She looked down and he knew before she even said anything, she moved over to the bed and collapsed on the edge of it. It was like watching the fight whoosh out of her and Stiles didn’t know how to deal with that. “Mrs. McCall, can I sit next to you, maybe hold your hand?” he asked, he didn’t want this to be any weirder or harder than necessary.

She nods, though she looks at him in surprise. He sits, making sure no part of him is touching her then reached in the space between them, holding his hand palm up and she placed her on top and he clasped her gently so she would have every opportunity to pull away. It was a lot like when he was with his mother and she had comforted him. He focused on that thought and channeled the kind of woman his mother was, the kind of friend she was with Mrs. McCall for the years before she died and spoke from the heart.

“Melissa, your son isn’t on drugs, he’s not on steroids and he’s not having a psychotic break; he’s a werewolf. The night the girl’s body was found we stupidly, on my command, went out into the forest to find the other half. You know how I get this time of year?” he asked with a shrug.

She nodded and looked over at him her dark hair falling in a curling wave around her face, “I think you need some new coping mechanisms Stiles.”

He grinned bashfully and wanted to pull away to rub at the back of his neck but ignored the reaction, “You’re not wrong. Scott and I were separated because my father found me but not Scott and I didn’t want him to take the fall too but he did in a completely different way.” At this Stiles looked down and wondered about the fact that he had been so excited about the mystery of lycanthropy and what to do for his friend that he’d been hiding from his own feelings. He took them out there and he didn’t tell his father that Scott was out there and now Scott was a werewolf, it could have been either one of them or both of them but because Stiles ran full steam into trouble like usual Scott was the one who was hurt and turned.

“Stiles?” Melissa asked gently, her fingers tightening around his for a second.

“Yeah,” he responded, shaking away from the all of a sudden totally conceivable guilt he felt. “So we got separated and when Scott was alone he was attacked by something. It was big and he didn’t see much at the time but he heard a wolf howling. Scott started exhibiting some weird symptoms, he was getting better at lacrosse and it happened over night, and he could hear and smell things that he shouldn’t be able to hear or smell. Then he shifted on the full moon. I was able to find him and he didn’t hurt anyone but he’s scared and he loves you and he needs you now more than ever. Will you please just open the door for him?”

Melissa sighed, squeezed Stiles’ hand again and nodded, walking over to the door and unlocking it. Scott was leaning against the wall across from the door and smiled his puppy grin when he saw his mother and she moved aside to invite him in. He walked in, speaking quickly as he went.

“I’m so sorry mom, I never wanted to scare you or make you think I was a drug addict or a ‘roid head, I didn’t know how to tell you what happened to me. I didn’t pick this and I don’t like it or want it but this is my life now. I just still want to be your son, the one with the not so stellar grades and I promise I will keep working on it.”

Melissa looked between Stiles and Scott, then back again. Stiles smiled and nodded towards his friend and she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her son. Melissa pulled herself together and glared at Scott, “Okay, I understand that what happened to you wasn’t your fault completely but you went out after you were supposed to be in bed and you have broken my trust since then with the lies. You are grounded for the next week and no arguments!” she gestured sharply with her hand, making sure that Scott didn’t speak even though he was just staring at her in silence. He nodded and she continued, “You can go to school, lacrosse and to work but nothing and nowhere else. We all know I can’t keep Stiles out of here so you both can come here or not at all. Understood!”

Scott nodded and Stiles kept his hands in his pockets. He was just here to make sure things didn’t get out of control again. He cleared his throat to bring the mother and son’s attention to him, “Do you believe or does he need to try and shift?” Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head at Stiles but his friend just held up a hand to stay the teen wolf. Melissa looked over at Stiles, “Try and shift?” she asked.

Scott answered, “I don’t have a lot of control over it, I haven’t been one for very long. I have only gone through one full moon and who boy that wasn’t fun. I promise I am not on drugs mom and I don’t want to be a monster, something that you’re afraid of. Please don’t be afraid of me?”

Stiles sighed, of course Scott McCall had the ability to sound like a kicked puppy while he was telling his mother that he was a creature of the night and he had fangs and claws under the full moon or really any other time he wanted them if he would go get some training from Derek. Melissa reached out and pressed a hand to the side of Scott’s neck and Stiles wondered what she was doing, then she shifted her grip down to over his heart and he knew. Scott still had the same heart he’d always had; now it was just a little bit stronger.

“You’re always my son and I love you no matter what, but this is going to take some getting used to. For now though, Stiles is going to go home and you are going to tell me about all the times in the past couple of weeks that this supernatural stuff has been affecting your life, then you are going to tell me what you are capable of so far and finally you are going to promise me to tell me whatever you know about the thing that bit you.”

Stiles started to walk out the door then he stopped, “By the way, no matter what Scott tells you, Derek is not the one who bit him. We still don’t know _who_ did.”

Scott snorted, “I know Stiles, god! Why do you have such a man crush on that guy?”

Stiles shrugged and walked out of the house, leaving the McCall’s to sort all of this out. There was nothing more he could do though part of him was happy that they were going to have a parent on their side and the fact that she worked for the hospital was helpful as well in case Scott ever got hurt and healed but hopefully that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. He palmed his phone, wondering if he should just go back home or head to school since he really should be at school. His dad would be coming home from the station from his overnight shift soon and he wasn’t going to take very kindly to Stiles skipping, especially since his grades had slipped a little in the week since his best friend became a creature of the night.

He felt when his phone vibrated and tugged it out of his coat and saw the message was from Derek, **‘Did you found out about Scott and the test?’**

Stiles wondered if Derek was going to threaten all of them for Scott telling his mother though Melissa was a force to be reckoned with, she might be enough of a tough mom that Derek couldn’t scare her though Stiles also knew that Scott might end up even more at odds with the werewolf again if Derek threatened his mother and Stiles wasn’t going to get in the middle of them then.

 **‘Well Scott’s mother doesn’t think he’s on steroids anymore, but there was another thing that happened, something you probably won’t like and might kill all of us for.’** There was really no point in beating around the bush about this, he figured.

Stiles didn’t wait long till he got the returned message, **‘He cracked and told his mother.’** Stiles noticed it wasn’t a question and he could swear he heard the long-suffering sigh through the text message, something he’d heard more than once during his conversations with the other werewolf. Stiles shrugged though he didn’t know why since no one could see him and hoped that since Derek had guessed and wasn’t calling or cursing or threatening, they were going to be fine for now. Derek would still be needed to teach Scott how to control himself and after the debacle on the field it was even more important.

**‘Yeah that’s what happens when a werewolf turns one Scott McCall, he went running to his mommy when someone cried foul and she believed them instead of her son. Honestly I would have been a better choice for a creature of the night since I lie to my dad about lots of things. Things with Scott and his mom was rough but she’s willing to hear him out and he’s also grounded.’**

Stiles drove towards the school and headed inside, waiting just long enough to slid into the hustle and bustle of the classes changing. He figured he could get through the rest of the day then check on Scott again. He could take him his homework as well, that would endear him further with Mrs. McCall. He turned his phone on silent and hoped that because Derek already guessed what happened possibly meant he wasn’t on the way to kill anyone but then again, this was Derek Hale and he had no idea what the man was going to do half the time. When his phone vibrated and he thought about what kind of ringtone he could give to Derek as he tugged the phone out and locked on the response.

**‘Would it help if I went and talked to her? I can still help him and now that I have a place, thanks again for that, I can stay and focus on helping him control the shift.’**

Stiles grinned though he couldn’t help the warm feeling spread in his stomach at the thought that Derek cared or was trying to care enough about Scott and Stiles, to even consider going over and _talking_ to Scott’s mother. He kept smirking because even as this was heartwarming, Stiles could not allow the opportunity to pass without teasing Derek about this positive shift in temperament. He knew he would bring back the grouch/frowning man more than once in the near future, like right now. **‘Who are you and what have you done with my Sourwolf?’** Then winced at the ‘my’ part of the text even as it was delivered to his ‘friend’, werewolf teacher maybe? Stiles had been talking to Derek for a little over a week now, going from random on the street conversations to the texting and he didn’t understand what this desire to have another friend, especially a traumatized man, in his life but he was enjoying it either way.

The response snapped back quicker than he thought possible, **‘Stop calling me that or I am going to kill you.’**

Stiles grinned because seriously bating people was going to be on his resume someday along with lying and writing an A+ paper on any topic as he answered, **‘Never mind, you found him.’**

With that, Stiles put his phone away and listened as the teacher started teaching. He spent the rest of the day in class then headed back to his house to work on homework and papers for a couple college students. He popped an Adderall before it got too late, if he could just get three papers done then he would have enough money for a couple of upgrades for his library. He finished about two in the morning and threw himself in bed, a twitching mess and hoped that Melissa and Scott were doing okay. It was possible that an added punishment was going to be the confiscating of his phone but Stiles’ doubted it, because of Melissa’s job, she didn’t like him not having some way to call her or help at any time. So, he was probably asleep or still explaining though he wondered if he should send her some of the links to pertinent information, the stuff that he has figured out with Scott and from Derek though there wasn’t much from that corner which really was stupid because Derek has clearly been a werewolf for a long time and he was hording the information and that was just rude.

And Stiles was going to tell him that tomorrow, if he remembered, just to see what Derek would say. Would he growl? Would he just ignore the message or return? It was hard to say but Stiles was willing to see what happened next. Undoubtedly he was going to hell already for his desire to bother someone like Derek but it was also because Stiles desperately wanted the man to know he wasn’t alone anymore and he didn’t have to be. Though if Stiles was a 22 year old werewolf who drove a Camaro, went to college in New York and wore a leather jacket, he might not be thinking having a teen wolf who was more interested in the pretty girl than getting killed and the teen’s spastic friend were the people in his life, he might not be very enthused either.

Oh well because Stiles wasn’t going anywhere now, he grinned at the thought while he finally settled into sleep.


	4. The Boy Who Ran with Werewolves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles will always stay at his friend's side, no matter what harm it causes him.

Several days passed with nothing exciting going on. They went to school; Scott went to work and Stiles drove over to the warehouse district every day they didn’t have lacrosse to help Derek clean up inside the train depot he’d found for the man. The best part was that Derek just wandered around grumbling about the teenager’s presence but apparently wasn’t so annoyed that he actually kicked him out. Stiles figured that was a win and the best he was going to get. Derek didn’t seem to care about the state of the place so Stiles took it upon himself to care instead. He spent some time scrubbing out the decrepit train car, inside and out, dumping bucket after bucket of disgusting water out the back and thankfully there was a water hose nearby where Derek could get some water,  though neither of them knew if it would stay there long term. Then when the train car was clean he took his time filling in the back cargo section with some of his extra pillows and a blanket, as well as an air mattress that cost more than he was going to tell Derek about (he’d actually told him that it was in his house with the rest of their camping supplies which they never used it) though Stiles figured that Derek knew he was lying and was just allowing it and maybe it had everything to do with the fact that the guy just wanted to be cared for, just a little and he was willing to let the teenager clean if that’s what he wanted to do. Stiles was trying not to read anything permanent into it, just doing what he could to make the other guy’s stay more comfortable.

The empty platform, Derek was planning to use for training and so Stiles located some training mats that would line the floor after they swept up the sharp and inconvenient debris from all over the place. Stiles laid out the pads so it would hurt less to hit the ground which he randomly found in a buyout on EBay for a ridiculously good price but he figured that it was going to pay off if Scott could learn to defend and control himself not to mention if Stiles started learning how to defend himself as well. By the time a week had passed and Scott’s banishment from Allison was over, Stiles had helped Derek turn the building into something that would almost pass as livable and they were getting ready for the weekend which Stiles was glad for, he’d been burning the candle at both ends, sleeping more and more sporadically as it was. Any other year he would be settling back into something close to normal, but with everything that happened and the supernatural, it seemed like his three months was now being extended on to six months.

And Stiles and Derek talked sporadically. Stiles mostly chattered on, much like their texting conversations of the week before and now it was just happening in person. Sometimes Derek answered or spoke about something that he took an interest in and that was the best part. He really liked when the werewolf was willing to share something of himself with Stiles who had forced himself into Derek’s life.

Scott mooned over Allison over the next couple of days while he continued to refuse to meet with Derek in the face of the epic eye rolling of his best friend but Stiles mostly left him alone because Scott didn’t fold under pressure. Normally he became mulishly stubborn and Stiles didn’t want that to happen because it would just make everything harder. He also wanted to know what Derek eventually planned to do, go or stay? He wondered if it was too painful for him to stay in Beacon Hills in the long term but for now Stiles was going to do what he could to offer the werewolf better options and reasons to stay here, where he could build a new pack with Scott.

“You told me more than once that you wanted to help Scott to control his shift but would you want to build a pack here? Maybe keep Scott out of the hands of this Alpha and actually mentor him?”

Derek looked up from the floor where he was leaning against one of the exposed beams to where Stiles was painting purposeful graffiti on the side of the train because he could. “Why?”

Stiles shrugged, “I guess I just want to think that maybe you could have something more than a lonely apartment in New York, maybe you could have a pack again. I looked it up and I wanted to ask what was actually accurate about the idea of a pack.”

Derek put down the pad of paper he was writing on and folded his hands across his stomach, the action pulled his t-shirt tight and Stiles tried to ignore it and wondered why he had to try, “What do you want to know?”

Stiles stopped drawing the crazy wolf with gold eyes and wandered over to sit in front of Derek and tried to think what he wanted to ask first especially since he had a list back at home but it wasn’t here. Then he looked up and spoke, “What was it like to have a pack? Have you always been a werewolf? Your family?”

Derek rolled his eyes and Stiles grinned because he knew what the guy was thinking. The wolf spoke and proving him correct in his thinking, “You just can’t help yourself can you?”

Stiles shrugged, “Apparently not.”

Derek sighed and shifted where he was sitting though Stiles had no idea why since Derek could sit still for hours at a time, something Stiles had noticed more than once in the past couple of days. Then he spoke again and Stiles just settled in to listen though everything inside of him wanted to fidget. “I was born a werewolf, both of my parents were born wolves, the Hale line is a long running family of strong werewolf bloodlines and for the most part we marry/mate with other wolves. We have held this territory for generations though not all of my family or the people who died in the fire were werewolves, like my Uncle Peter’s wife wasn’t a werewolf but it didn’t matter, we were all connected to each other in a way that you could never understand because you are only human.”

“Thanks,” Stiles snarked more because he couldn’t help but be snarky rather than actually being angry or annoyed, he knew what it was like to love his father so much he was willing to get shot for taking away his curly fries or loved his mom enough to stay with her when she was dying and he was afraid but she couldn’t be alone so he’d sucked it up and stuck around even when all he wanted for was his father to lift him from the bed and cuddle him close. It might not be supernatural but it did mean something.

“I don’t know what it’s like to be a human and be changed into a werewolf, it’s possible that I won’t be able to help Scott through this because I was born this way.”

Stiles started humming ‘Born this Way’ from Lady Gaga for a second until Derek’s glare stopped him, he asked, “Did you struggle to control your shift?”

“Yeah, especially when I was in high school,” Derek said with a frown.

“Then I think you can help him, you can mentor him and figure this out but that’s not my question. You were born a werewolf, so what was is like to have a pack?”

“Warm,” Derek paused like he was surprised that he’d told Stiles that, then continued, “We were family. That’s what it was like. I always knew I wasn’t alone because I could feel them in my heart, all the time and when they—went away and I was hurt and Uncle Peter was hurt and I could feel his pain and screams sometimes even though logically I know that’s silly. I felt it when each and every one of them went away. If it wasn’t for Laura I don’t think I would be sane today, we kept each other sane. I don’t know if I could have a pack again, ever. Since Laura it is even more true, my family died, my pack died and I won’t survive it if it happens again, I can’t.”

Stile figured he would focus on the feelings before the fire rather than push him to talk about that more though he did wonder if talking about the good things was more painful because they were gone. “Was it like that because you were family or because you were a pack? I am asking if that feeling, no matter the fear or the belief you have that you can’t survive any more loss, is that something that you wish you could have again?”

Derek shook his head, tilted to the side like he was listing and trying desperately to hold himself together as he spoke, “I can’t hope for it, I hoped for it with Laura and look what happened!” Derek’s tone was monotone but Stiles could hear the waver and he didn’t have to be a werewolf to know that no matter the fear and the trauma, this was something Derek maybe wanted or needed.

“So you teach Scott to control the shift? You find the alpha? Then what?”

Derek shrugged, “I don’t know Stiles, why does this matter for you so much?”

“I don’t know Derek, I am so glad after my mom died that I at least had my dad, he’s all I have and I couldn’t imagine losing him and I know I don’t know what it’s like to lose someone when there is a supernatural bond between us but I do know what it’s like to lose someone I love desperately and I know what it’s like to want more from life than just misery and sadness. If you stayed, did this with Scott, could you chance having a pack again or is it something that’s completely off the table for you?”

Derek silently stewed, glaring at Stiles and the teen had a hard time holding eye contact because Derek was much stronger than him and his eyebrows were judging him and they were distracting. Derek could and would hurt him if he wanted to but there was no movement, except for those eyebrows and the pursed lips, the locked jaw and the overwhelming silence. He hated silence, unless there was something to search for. He didn’t really listen to anything when he did research but the rest of the time, he did everything in his power not to live in too much silence.

Stiles sighed when it appeared that Derek wasn’t going to share anymore and pushed up off the floor and wandered back over to his graffiti masterpiece, he wasn’t a great artist, not like Lydia or anyone but at least it looked like a wolf and Derek didn’t seem to care one way or another what he was doing. The teen just carried on with his day and tried to ignore the fact that Derek’s lack of answer hurt him a little, deep inside his heart. He didn’t know why it hurt other than the fact that he hoped for something different for the guy though again, he didn’t understand when Derek Hale’s future had become important to him.

They past the time in silence and Stiles went home late afternoon, stopped to get something to eat before driving over to Scott’s house. It was a rare night and they were planning to play some video games and then head to the school to practice lacrosse though mostly it was so Stiles could look less like an idiot on the field if the coach ever decided to play him. Scott didn’t need the help anymore, he still practiced and stumbled on the field but Stiles knew it was more because he wasn’t used to his body’s abilities but it was probably good for them. He didn’t need to always look like the best and greatest of players.

They were throwing the ball back and forth when someone hooted; the sound drawing both the teens’ attention and caught sight of the three boys in lacrosse jerseys from last week’s opposing team when Scott had been accused of taking steroids.

“Well what have we here?” one of them asked, Stiles noticed the name on the back of the jersey, ‘Marks’, the other two were ‘James’ and ‘Alexander’ though Stiles didn’t know if they would actually be dumb enough to come here with their _own names_ plastered all over their back but who knew. He also didn’t think they were here for a friendly game of lacrosse. In the darkening twilight of the evening Stiles didn’t notice much about them, ‘James’ was a large African-American man, ‘Alexander’ and ‘Marks’ were both light skinned with blonde hair but that was all the details he took in before one of them spoke.

“You cheated in the game, McCall!” Marks shouted across the distance and Stiles took a step back hating the fact that it would make him look like the coward who didn’t want to defend his friend but fighting with these guys was not a good idea. It wasn’t only because he was going to get his ass kicked but also because if Scott couldn’t control himself then they were going to have an even bigger problem and Stiles wasn’t strong enough to control Scott. He could hurt them, he could kill them and then with or without wolfy powers Scott would be changed forever. Stiles couldn’t let that happen.

“They tested me, I was clean,” Scott returned, gripping his lacrosse stick as a weapon, his grip twisting around the handle in anxiety. Stiles figured it was good that Scott was acting like he needed a weapon, using his werewolf abilities against angry teenage boys wasn’t going to help them at all. Stiles held on tightly to his stick as well, wishing all of a sudden that he’d had more practice on the field if only for the ability to use the stick to his benefit right now. The three guys continued towards them and Stiles held out his hands, the lacrosse stick in his hand held out like a defensive weapon to keep them back but they just kept coming.

“Come on guys, don’t do this!” Stiles begged, looking back to where Scott was getting that panicky look that was starting to be a constant part of their lives. Stiles noticed that it was happens right before he starts hyperventilating and changing. Once upon a time, getting beat up was only physically painful and social inconvenient and now apparently it was now Stiles’s job to make sure his best friend didn’t turn into a frothing monster who kills annoying sore-losing lacrosse players. How didn’t this become his life again? Seriously?

“Your mother is a nurse at the hospital; she changed the sample or doctored the results!” Alexander said and Stiles groaned and took a step to the side, out of the way of his best friend, as he thumbed at his phone in his pocket trying not to be too obvious about what he was doing. Scott rushed the three guys with a shouting growl, his eyes were undoubtedly flashing and Stiles hoped that the guys would be too hyped up to say anything about it or maybe they would just get their asses kicked and they wouldn’t say anything else about weird golden eyes and claws if those decided to come out. He didn’t think they were that lucky plus the fact that not only was Scott untrained, he was volatile and strong which wasn’t a good combination. At this point Stiles was hoping he would trip on his own feet before he got close enough to be outed.

The only reason he’d stepped aside was because he loved and respected his mother and the idiots called her integrity into question and though she might be a busy woman who didn’t always have the best track record with her kid, she would never push her integrity aside at work, even if it was for her kid. That’s what Scott believed and being as emotional as he was, Stiles wasn’t dumb enough to get between the charging werewolf and the lacrosse players who said such a thing. It was the same as if someone accused his father of being a dirty cop, he wouldn’t be able to back down either. Their parents loved them and Stiles is pretty sure that they would do anything for their children (Melissa had already proved that when she found out Scott was a werewolf) and both the Sheriff and Mrs. McCall were honest people. Scott took that kind of stuff very seriously especially because his father was less than ideal. Stiles kept an eye on the violence even as he noticed one of the other players was eyeing him and Scott was going down fast so he sent a quick text to Derek, **‘Help! School!’**

Then before they could come for him Stiles jumped into the fray, he hit James across the back of his shoulders and he went down hard then turned to take on Alexander while the jock was busy with Scott but they didn’t stay down for long then they were in the thick of it. Stiles wondered what the hell they were even doing, none of them really knew anything about a fist fight of boxing so it was mostly swinging weapons at each other and trying not to hit the ground. It was an uncoordinated clusterfuck that was going to out his friend and get Stiles’s ass kicked. The real problem was that the other guys were bigger and stronger, even if they were uncoordinated, Stiles didn’t have a chance but it wouldn’t stop him from fighting back until he couldn’t anymore for his best friend, and that included McCall’s soul, which would be forever changed if he accidently killed someone.

 

Derek looked down at the cellphone, knowing it was Stiles because the crazy teenager went back and changed the ringtones on his phone; it was a smart phone but nothing as impressive as what most people carried around these days. It was enough to get by and Stiles personalized his ringtone to what the kid had declared the victory song from some video game or something though the werewolf had no idea if it really was. He assumed that Stiles wasn’t kidding since he and Scott were no strangers to things like Call of Duty which Derek had at least heard of since he hadn’t been living under a rock in New York despite how much it felt like that sometimes.

Derek saw the message and his chest constricted, it was finite and to the point which was not at all like Stiles, proving beyond any other method that the teen wasn’t kidding around. There wasn’t anything except the two words and in that moment, it was like his family all over again; one terse call from a police officer or firefighter on scene had been the only warning of what they were coming home to that evening but even a detailed warning could have never prepared him for what he saw and rushed into when he and Laura got there. He thought about the questions that Stiles always seems to be asking, demanding he pay attention to the world around him and wondered if he was already in too deep with Scott and Stiles and Beacon Hills. He didn’t want to see the two of them get hurt and that rocketed him into his car and out to the school, thanking some little piece of something in the universe that he had his car with him that day.

“What the hell am I doing?” he muttered even as he continued to drive in the direction of apparent teenage angst and drama wondering how he’d been born a werewolf and he hadn’t had this much drama as a teenager only to find himself dragged into their drama. And Stiles was the worst of them all, wandering around with nascent werewolves and saying it was because of something as trite as friendship. And though Derek wanted to believe that it was trite, even he knew that it wasn’t what he truly believed, the fact that Stiles was sticking around was courageous and loving and Derek wished he had someone like that in his life… well he apparently had Stiles in his life now but he wasn’t interested in holding his breath in hope for keeping that friendship, Scott was going to come first for the other teenager and Derek would be alone again but he wished that he could trust someone like Stiles in his life again. He was sick of being alone which totally explained why he was stupidly dragging himself into their problems, no questions asked. For now, he would just grumble about it until the idiot got himself killed and to tell his grave ‘I told you so’ even though he didn’t think he ever had told Stiles to take a hike and stay away from the supernatural world. Maybe he should.

He made it to the school in record time, barely ten minutes and got out of his car. He listened for a second and jerked off towards the lacrosse field, he could easily hear the grunts and shouts, Scott was growling and there was a deep groan of pain and Derek poured on a bit of supernatural speed though he knew how stupid that was with hunters in time. He came around the corner to see Scott being choked out by someone, on the ground and thankfully he wasn’t shifted which more likely meant that he was in enough pain that he couldn’t hold his beta form or maybe he had a bit more control but Derek doubted it with how little the new beta was interested in learning about control. Derek was more concerned about Stiles who was lying on the ground not moving, Derek could smell the blood and pain in the air and two other humans were taking turns kicking Stiles where he lay.

Derek shouted, “Hey!” hoping that seeing a ‘grown up’ might scare them off though he always had a hard time thinking of himself that way. The two on Stiles turned, caught sight of him running towards them and he knew that his eyes were starting to change because no matter what he said this was instinct. These two teens were something to him, a start of something and he cared. He hadn’t realized that a bond had been forming all those times that Stiles was helping him in the past week but this was proof that whether Derek wanted it or not, his wolf recognized them as Pack, like with a capital ‘P’ and he had to act—to protect them. This was why he’d dropped everything when Stiles texted, these were people that he cared enough about to come running, Stiles for sure and maybe Scott though the bond wasn’t forming as quickly. That probably had more to do with the fact that the new wolf had an allegiance to the one who bit him but Stiles was Pack and he was hurt. The two guys ran off while the third still kept his hands around Scott’s throat. He was leaning over the teen wolf, using his body to keep him pinned and it only took Derek another minute to get close enough to shove the teenager over and away from Scott’s body. The remaining boy shouted angrily, turning to see who had interrupted his apparent brush with attempted murder, saw Derek and left as quickly as he could. Derek took sight of the name on the back of his jersey: “Marks”, now spotted with blood and spit from the fight, sweat from playing lacrosse. Derek grabbed a hold of the scent of each of the boys, the names on the jerseys and let them run. He looked down and wondered for a second who he should check first but Scott was already healing and moving, groaning as he did. Stiles was still far to silent and unmoving, something that Derek was sure the teen was allergic to. He moved swiftly to Stiles’ side, noting the bruises that were already swelling on his face and where the shirt had rucked up on him. There was blood sweeping from his nose, the corner of his mouth and most concerning, there seemed to be a head wound as well though he didn’t know what is was from. Head wounds were bad, a lot of things can happen because of them. Stiles needed help as soon as he could get it here.

Derek reached out and pressed his hand to Stiles’ shoulder trying not to notice the way his own hand was shaking or how his heartrate was ratcheting up, “Come on Stilinski!” he said sharply, hoping that the teen would move or shift or wake if someone said his name. He hoped it would be enough. It wasn’t. Stiles’s heart was beating too fast, his breathing was erratic and it sounded wet. Derek didn’t know much about injuries and being human but he didn’t think either of those things were good. He reached down again and lifted Stiles’ shirt to check out the extent of the bruising and they were everywhere, already darkening in the shocking shape of boots with little pinpricks of blood, as if the kids were wearing cleated boots. Derek took a deep breath and pressed his hand to the side of the teen’s stomach over a slightly less bruised area and sucked in a breath as he focused on what he was trying to do. He hadn’t done this in a long time and there was nothing to prepare him for the agony that pounded through his skin.

The pain drain was something that not many humans knew about and they liked to keep it that way but if they couldn’t wake him this was only going to get worse. It wasn’t like he could heal Stiles, but maybe the pain drain would give the teenager time to wake up or something. He watched as the black veins rose up his arm, seeping out as they went and he closed his eyes against the pain but refused to stop. Leaning down, Derek groaned while he continued, his forehead landing on the ground next to Stiles’ body and he breathed through the pain and matching it with each of Stiles’ heartbeats, waiting as if it would stop from one to the next.

“What are you doing?” Scott demanded, his voice hoarse and weak as he shuffled closer. Derek lifted his head and watched as the other kid came close enough to see the damage that lay before them.

“He’s really hurt,” Derek gritted out.

“Stiles?” Scott demanded, pressing a hand to Stiles’s other shoulder but the best friend’s voice didn’t do anything more than his did moments before. Derek reached out and grabbed one of Scott’s hands and pressed it into Stiles’ arm, “Focus on his pain, relieving him of it. Do it and maybe we can wake him!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Scott asked, his voice was already sounding stronger so Derek wasn’t worried. The aches and pains would quickly leave as well but Stiles was human, he was fragile and he could die from something like this. Then the black veins started rising in Scott’s arms and there was a few seconds before Stiles came awake with a gasping shout, arching his back for a second and he flopped back on the ground. Derek kept holding his hand over Stiles’ side and shushed him, Scott pulled away with his hands held out in front of him in shock and they both watched as Stiles looked around in shock before settling those whiskey colored eyes on Derek and his hands shivered for some reason, maybe shock as they settled on his chest then they moved away again.

“What happened?” Stiles asked, his voice raw and small like he’d been screaming for hours.

“You two idiots got into a beef with three guys from another lacrosse team, got your asses handed to you. Stiles you can’t heal, why do you keep following him around, do you want Scott to get you killed?”

“Hey!” Scott demanded all hurt feelings with a high-pitched shout.

“Scott, you stayed on the team then those guys accused you of cheating and technically you were; it just wasn’t steroids,” Derek paused because Stiles’ eyes were slipping and having a hard time tracking movement, the teenager being okay was more important than proving something to the other werewolf. Derek started the pain drain again but the pain was different, it went deeper somehow and he didn’t understand it. “You fought them, he protected you undoubtedly like he has been doing since the beginning of this and now he’s hurt! This is bad!”

Scott glared at Derek, “Since when do you give any damns about either one of us?” he snapped and stood up and dragged the cell phone out of his jacket pocket, shaking his free hand and Derek watched it continue to shake when he was trying to dial. “I have to call someone, he’s really hurt. I could feel it!”

Derek shook his head and looked back down to see that Stiles wasn’t conscious again. He pressed his free hand against the side of the teen’s neck and focused on feeling his heartbeat under his fingers, he waited as it slipped into his skin and seeped into his head and heart, it calmed him enough that he could focus on seeping off a bit more of the pain. “Come on Stiles, stay with me!” he scolded, using his voice to try to bring the teen out of it again. Stiles’ body shifted and jerked, then again and he pulled his hands away as the seizure started and kept going.

“Call 911 and his father, now!” Derek shouted then leaned down to lift Stiles from the ground and cradled him gently against his chest and he took off towards his car, leaving Scott standing on his own in the field. Derek got to his Camaro quickly and placed Stiles in the passenger seat and rushed around the front just as Scott run up to him.

“I got Stiles’ jeep, I’ll meet you there. I will make sure to let them know you are coming! Talk to my mom when you get there, Melissa McCall.”

Derek nodded gratefully, sad to think that it took Stiles injured on the ground to get the two of them together even for a moment. He started the car and headed straight for the hospital and lifted Stiles from the seat again and rushed inside where he was met by Scott’s mom and a gurney.

“Scott called me, we got this!” Mrs. McCall stated as Derek settled Stiles on the movable bed. He pressed a hand to Stiles’ shoulder then watched as he was wheeled away, hating how the distance just kept getting longer. He breathed slowly, trying to slow the racing in his heart and then Scott was there next to his shoulder and grabbing his arm for a minute.

“Whoa dude, what’s going on with you?” Scott demanded and Derek tried to pull himself together by strength of will, which sadly didn’t seem to be enough today. He was suddenly back there, in the yard in front of his family home and watched as it burned. He jerked away from Laura and rushed inside, listening to them as they screamed and cried and there were bonds already being severed and nothing stopped the snap in his mind. He had no control; there was nothing he could do to stop himself from running into the fire and screaming as he tried to save someone… _anyone…_ If he could save them then maybe he wouldn’t feel when his sanity broke and died along with them. But he couldn’t save any of them, and now Stiles was hurt and the kid had cared enough to find him a place to stay and draw a ridiculous wolf on the side of the decrepit train and talk to him about things that people hadn’t talked to him about for a long time. Stiles had cared for his friend enough to see him through his first full moon and didn’t kill his best friend when he turned into a monster. Stiles didn’t see Scott or Derek as monsters and now he was hurt.

“Oh god!”

“What?” Scott demanded then dragged Derek away from the people in the waiting area and towards the door and Derek wondered for a second if his eyes were flashing blue so he just followed along. They headed out towards the Camaro and Scott pushed him against the front hood before he collapsed. Derek nodded to Scott in gratitude even though he didn’t like it at all.

“Shit! That little shit!” Derek growled, his eyes flashing again and his fangs tried to drop for a second before he regained his senses.

“What’s your problem?” Scott asked, his head tilting in confusion.

“I lost my family, my pack a long time ago and I lost my sister when I came back here and Stiles cared. He cared about me and I didn’t even notice when I started to see him and you even as something more than arrogant and stupid kids.”

“What do you see him as?” Scott demanded, crossing his arms mulishly.

“Pack.”

Scott stared at him in shock; Derek could seriously understand the sentiment. He didn’t know how the annoying and abrasive kid could have become something integral to him in this moment, something that could mean a lot to him for a long time if they didn’t get killed in the meantime. He wasn’t leaving Beacon Hills anymore. He pressed his hands to his head, scrubbing at his scalp and groaned.

“Scott!” someone shouted and they both turned as Sheriff Stilinski got out of his police cruiser and ran towards them. Derek groaned again, he didn’t know how to explain if the man asked why he was there with Scott. Mrs. McCall had taken Stiles from him and there would be paperwork to sign and statements to give because this was nothing but a mundane yet awful human attack. He needed to tell the Sheriff what he saw and who did this to his kid.

“Sheriff, Stiles is inside with Mrs. McCall.”

The Sheriff looked towards the doors then pressed a hand to Scott’s shoulder and looked over at Derek, “What are you doing here?”

“I found them, I saw what was happening and I brought Stiles here. I need to know he’s okay,” Derek said, trying to make it sound like a question but he couldn’t. He was too much of an alpha even though he wasn’t one, it was important that his Pack-mate was alive and going to be okay. This need to bark orders, no pun intended, was in his genes though with Laura around he’d never been talked through what it would be like to be an alpha but it didn’t matter right now. He didn’t want to leave and wait to hear what was happening. He needed to stay and see Stiles moving and talking and refusing to shut up like normal. That’s what he needed; he couldn’t lose another pack member. He wouldn’t survive it.

“How do you even know my son? After everything with your sister’s body, I don’t really understand why you’re here,” Stilinski demanded, hand going to his holstered weapon.

Derek held his hands up in defense, “He helped me after you found her, Laura, and he helped me to see that I was being an idiot about burying her and not talking to the police but after the fire and everything it was just too much,” he said and was really glad that Stilinski wasn’t a werewolf because he would know more than Derek could stand. The Sheriff knew enough about the fire and what Derek was like after that the answer gave him more than enough to take a step back and remember that Derek was the one that brought Stiles here. He told more truth than he wanted to with Scott as an unwilling witness to Derek’s inner turmoil and story.

“Fine, I am going in to talk to them now,” Stilinski said, mostly to Scott who nodded, then headed inside. Derek got back into his car, and moved it to an actual parking spot near the jeep. Then he wandered back inside, pleased that his early panic seemed to have abated for the time being. He slumped down in one of the chairs to wait, closing his eyes and focusing on the sounds of the hospital, searching for the sound of Stilinski’s voice or Stiles’s name being said somewhere in the distance. There was the general hustle and bustle of the hospital, Mrs. McCall was speaking to someone in one of the other areas and it turned out to be Stilinski so Derek focused on it, hoping there wouldn’t be any alarms going off anytime soon because it would hurt.

“Noah, he’s with the doctor now, he has lacerations and bruising but they are mostly concerned about the trauma to his head. He clearly was kicked or hit multiple times by the assailant maybe from a stick or something but there was something sharp and caused small wounds. Though the bruising is extensive, it doesn’t seem to be permanent and we are hoping that there aren’t any internal bleeds to worry about. I will keep you updated as the doctor finishes with his assessment.”

Derek sighed and kept his eyes closed, thinking back to all the times he wished he could do what many of his family members could do, especially his mother and sister could do and fully shift instead of just taking on his beta form. Derek wanted desperately to go curl up in his wolf form and just will away the desire to talk but he hadn’t been able to do that since before the fire, though he knew he was capable of it but ever since his eyes changed from gold to blue, he hadn’t been able to. So instead he would stay here, he would remain still and unhelpful in the face of someone else getting hurt and he wasn’t there to keep it from happening.

For a moment he hated Stiles Stilinski, his heart turning cold against the pain he felt at the idea of building a pack again, especially without an alpha to bring them together. There was an alpha out there somewhere but it didn’t want to be known and it had turned Scott against his will, something that went against all of their werewolf culture and rules. Consent was just as important to werewolves as it was to humans, probably even more so because they were so much stronger than humans were.

Derek sat and waited; Scott paced and waited while Stilinski talked to nurses and doctors and they all just waited. They were there late into the evening and further into the night, Mrs. McCall tried to convince Scott to go home but he refused and she gave up. Derek didn’t have anywhere to be and he wanted to see Stiles once at least before he snuck back out to his home in the warehouse district. He heard when Stiles was placed in a private room to rest, he was still not waking and wasn’t very coherent when he was awake which was probably because of the blunt force trauma and they were hoping that when the swelling went down he would wake on his own. Derek heard all of this from conversations between Stilinski and Mrs. McCall then Stilinski went into Stiles’ room and spoke to him quietly, Derek couldn’t hear anything beyond the comforting deep rumble of the father’s voice and it took him back to his father telling him stories before bed or scolding him for something later in life and he sighed, thankful that Stiles still had one of his parents. The nice thing about being with Laura was that they were rarely around other parents so their loss had rarely been shoved back into their faces. Now, watching Mrs. McCall scold Scott or knowing that though she had been freaked out she stood at Scott’s back when she found out what he was or the way Stiles worries about his Dad’s cholesterol or Stilinski grabbed him by the back of the neck when he wanted the kid to just hear him and behave, well it all reminded him of his parents and though the pain was more apparent, the good memories were also there waiting for him.

Derek waited until Stilinski left the hospital, giving both Scott and Derek a stern look and demand that they should be at home to which they both nodded then Scott and Derek both went back and walked into the room and closed the door behind them. Stiles was laying still on the bed, there was a breathing tube in his nose, he had a catheter and an IV and he was pale under the bruises. Derek noticed quickly the white wrapping around the teenager’s head, making the blue-purple bruises all over his face and throat appear even darker. Scott walked over and pressed a hand to Stiles’ chest and sighed, “His heart rate is normal, he is breathing on his own.” Scott opened up his file and checked all the doctor’s notes while Derek walked around to the other side of bed and pressed a hand to Stiles’ wrapped forehead. He didn’t have anything inside of him to know that Stiles was okay, he only had the senses he was born with which told him exactly what kind of drugs Stiles was on, as well as the pain he was in. He wanted to pull the pain away and see if it would wake him again but it was possible that Stiles needed the rest so he could heal and Derek didn’t want to do anything to keep that from happening.

“Derek, he’s going to be okay,” Scott whispered and Derek looked over at him.

“You can’t keep this up long term without help Scott, he’ll die if you do.”

Scott looked down at Stiles then back over to the born wolf, “He won’t ever stop, or leave me on my own will he?”

Derek shook his head, “You’re his pack Scott and you need help.”

“Then will you help me? Help me to learn control? Help me to find the alpha, figure out why he did what he did? Help me protect him too?”

Derek looked back down at Stiles, hating him a little bit because there was no way now that he was going to be able to leave this god-forsaken supernaturally cursed town because he didn’t keep this stubborn little shit of a kid out of his life and now he cared about both of them. He still wouldn’t mind shoving them up against a wall and beating the ever-loving snot out of them but he cared.

“I’ll help you but first we need to make sure he gets back up again. Then I am going to teach the both of you how to survive in this town.”

Scott snorted, “Haven’t you survived this town by running away?”

He flinched, Derek couldn’t help it. There was truth to the words but Laura had done enough in the past years to make sure he wasn’t just a wolf and he wouldn’t have to run the next time and Derek continued the trend. He did what he had to do to survive and right now he did want to run but it wasn’t going to work anymore, “I can teach you to control your abilities, to harness them for something other than fear mongering and anxiety. You can be a good wolf and friend, you don’t have to be a monster and we can stop running together, as a pack.”

“Is this because of Stiles?” Scott asked and tilted his head in a canine fashion that made Derek smirk a little before he got his face under control and wondered why these two idiot savants had even been able to get under his skin like this and when, “Because he cared enough to keep you here, for me?”

“Annoying little shit, isn’t he?” Derek growled.

Scott smiled and nodded, “Yeah he is,” he said the words with a fondness that Derek remembered from having siblings and griping about them even though he loved them so much. He missed them but he was still alive and maybe this wasn’t the end, grief didn’t have to be the end. He watched as Scott pressed a hand to the top of Stiles’ head and sighed.

“You know its normal to want to be physically close to your pack mates, right?” Derek asked gently.

Scott frowned then snatched his hand away like Stiles’ head burned him, “What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed or worried about, Stiles is your best friend and your pack-mate, and he’s hurt so you are going to feel the need to stay close to him until you know he’s better. Just lean into the wolf, the instincts are there to help you and support you especially when you are wanting to support him. He’s important to you, just stay close to him and he’ll be fine.”

Scott nodded and put his hand back on Stiles’ shoulder gently and Derek placed his hand over the center of the teen’s chest, feeling the thumping thump of his heartbeat, something to keep him stable while he looked so weak and small.

“He’s so breakable and young, like I was,” Derek whispered and Scott stared at him. He didn’t like to think about when he was so young and when he was breakable. He was broken because he let someone in, closer than a pack mate and he couldn’t let someone else see that. He looked up and sighed, “I can’t discuss it, I didn’t even mean to say that. I am going to speak to the Sheriff about what I saw, you need to make sure that you give a statement while it’s still fresh about the three kids that hurt you, that hurt him. You know Stilinski isn’t going to handle this well.”

“Got it and I know,” Scott stated and Derek nodded, lifting his hand away from Stiles’ and turning to walk out. He paused at the door, listened to his heartbeat for a moment longer before he left the room, then the hospital. He headed to the sheriff’s station and asked if Stilinski was available and he was shown back to the man’s office.

“Derek Hale, what are you doing here?” the Sheriff asked, only glancing up for a second before he went back to his computer screen.

“I don’t want to interrupt but I would like to give my description of what happened to Stiles and Scott, how is he? Did you hear from the doctor, any updates?” he figured acting like he wasn’t just in the teen’s hospital room was probably the best idea, he was still an adult spending time with two teenagers without any real reason or rationale.

“He’s still asleep, they are concerned about the swelling but there is nothing else to report. You said you know something about what happened to him?”

“Yeah, I was there, I got them both to the hospital, I got him there as soon as I could.”

“You know,” the Sheriff started and then paused, “My wife Claudia knew your mother, she actually was a friend of hers. They had met through some strange circumstances and got much closer. She was around after Claudia died, since she was close with Stiles for the length of my wife’s friendship with her, though they rarely spent time at our house. I wish now that I had spent more time figuring out what my wife did with her amazing brain and so much free time when I was working my way up to Sheriff. I think maybe if it wasn’t for her death, Stiles and you may have even been friends a long time ago.”

Derek frowned, he hadn’t really thought about the friends that his mother had, those people who came and went from their house. He’d been too busy trying to escape the pack and his family dynamics to notice a woman with a small boy, who was married to a cop. It wouldn’t have been very high on his priority list. And then his eyes changed and there was nothing he remembered after that. He wondered if this was the reason why Stiles’s scent smelled more like Pack. It wasn’t something he’d been entirely conscious of but now that he thought about it, Derek had been surprised he’d been able to sleep at the Stilinski house and this could be why.

It was strange after everything that happened, the Sheriff was mentioning it now but the older man had gone through a terrible trauma around the same time he was so maybe this was the first time he recalled that time. Or maybe he was just trying to justify the fact that Derek, who should have had no reason to be around Stiles but was here now.

“I didn’t know sir; I don’t remember her or Stiles. I’m sorry for your loss, I know it’s not something that you just ‘get over’ ever.”

“I’m sorry for yours too son,” the Sheriff said and grabbed a pad from his desk and a pen, “Did you want to talk it out or write it down?”

Derek thought about it and nodded, “I can talk it out.”

The Sheriff nodded and they started slowly. Derek explained that Stiles texted him for help, that they had been texting back and forth since he was exonerated because Stiles felt guilty and hated that Derek lost his sister like that (none of which were lies) and the Sheriff took it in with ease that Derek didn’t expect and honestly freaked him out a little as he explained what he saw when he got to the school. He ended the description with, “Scott should have information as well. It looked like it was a couple of kids from the lacrosse team. I don’t understand why they would have attacked them like that.”

“Some of the teammates from the other school accused Scott of taking drugs, Melissa called me about it the other day. Maybe they decided to dispense with some jock justice,” the Sheriff said and groaned, “Why does my son have to get into these kinds of situations?”

Derek winced, “He loves Scott. Stiles is going to do whatever he has to in order to keep his friend safe. He’s courageous and he does what he needs to do to keep people he cares about safe.”

The Sheriff stared at Derek, who looked down at his hands while the blood rushed to his face a little. He could feel the warmth in his ears and just wanted to crawl under the desk and get out of the older man’s scrutiny. He needed to get out of here before he said anything else to telling. The Sheriff wasn’t in the know despite what his son had tried to tell him a few days before and Stiles may have wanted him to be but that would be between the son and his father.

“He has always been like that,” the Sheriff finally said and Derek wondered who the man ever spoke to about his son, there was a sadness in his smell as well as a desperate relief which shocked Derek for a moment. The Sheriff clearly loved his son, it was easy to see, hear and smell (love had a very strange awe-inspiring scent, especially the kind of familial love between a child and a parent), and he didn’t have a partner or friends to talk to about him either.

“Why do you say that? Did he run into a lot of fights when he was younger?” Derek asked with a small tilting of his lips in something close to a smile though it wasn’t something that would be obvious to someone who was used to Stiles’ crazy arms, expressive face and spastic body.

“Scott got picked on a lot when they were younger, Stiles always looked out for him. It was the same with his friends, his mother and goddamit my cholesterol as well. He will do anything to keep us around and okay. That’s always courageous though not necessarily always smart.”

“Definitely not always smart.”

“You sticking around because you consider him a friend?” the Sheriff asked, his voice verging close to interrogating rather than just chatting.

Derek looked up and straight into the man’s eyes, so like his son’s though without the strange luminosity of humor and sarcasm that Stiles carried with him as a dear confidant and a protective barrier against those who could hurt him. The Sheriff was a man much like Derek in a way, someone who had seen the harshness of life and was doing his level best to believe there was something still good in the world. Derek had seen the worst of events because he was a werewolf and Sheriff Stilinski had undoubtedly seen the worst in people through his job, was it any surprise that Stiles’ blatant joy at life despite devastating circumstances was a comfort to the both of them?

“I care about him sir, and he obnoxiously seems to care about me.”

The Sheriff nodded, “Well then I guess I will see you around but I need you to remember something from now on if you are going to be a presence in my son’s life.”

“Yes sir?” he asked, cautious but pleased that he wouldn’t have to worry about explaining this weird budding friendship with the man.

“Do not buy my son alcohol or get him into any kind of trouble that comes from knowing someone who’s considered an adult, do you hear me?”

Derek nodded, “Yes sir, I don’t drink or anything anyway and if he thinks he can ask for that kind of favor, you will be the first to know I promise.”

The Sheriff nodded and held out a small piece of paper and Derek took it as he spoke, “Good man. That’s my phone number, cell as well as home and office in case you need to make that call. Now get out of here so I can get some work done.”

“Thank you sir,” Derek rose, took the card and walked towards the office door.

“Derek?” the Sheriff asked and the younger man paused, “I will let the nurses and staff know that you are welcome to check in on Stiles for yourself okay?”

Derek looked down at his hand on the doorknob and smiled though he refused to turn and show the man how pleased he was about the gift of the Sheriff’s trust, “Thank you.” Then left, he wouldn’t go back to the hospital tonight, Scott needed some time with his friend and he needed to find out what the hell was going on outside of school. There was an alpha here in town and it wasn’t going to stay hidden forever.

 

*          *          *

Stiles sat in the large armchair and looked around the large family room, looking down at his hands with a frown because the last thing he remembered was the lacrosse field with Scott. He found his hands and arms, legs and everything to be pint-sized, a vague memory of life instead of actual recollection though he didn’t recognize the space he was sitting in. Frowning he scrambled out of the chair, thinking he was going to have to climb back into it afterwards then walked over to a mirror and saw—himself but a himself that he hadn’t seen in a long time. He was around seven years old possibly though maybe younger, maybe older. He had been a scrawny kid and after his mom died, he couldn’t eat much for days at a time so he’d lost any extra weight he’d had at the time, bones peeking out constantly. He turned around and started walking back to the chair then paused when he heard something, Mini Stiles wandered through one of the nearby doorways and heard the subtle lyrical sound of women’s voices and followed it mostly because it could be his mom and he so rarely dreamt about his mother. And other women were rarely a part of his life and memories, besides Mrs. McCall.

He walked up to another closed door and listened, his mother was there and speaking and he smiled, whining a little at the sound because she was here and he didn’t know why he was here but all he wanted to do was walk through that door and hug her, to tuck himself into her embrace and just soak it up. He remembered the curtain of brown hair, much darker than Stiles’ father’s hair and much like his. She would leave it loose and long and Stiles would sit in her lap and play with it gently for hours at a sitting. She laughed and Stiles pressed a hand to his chest before trying to listen.

“Tally, you don’t understand, I’m done. I am fading and I am going to end up in the hospital soon, Noah knows it but he’s having a hard time accepting it. I need you to think of your sons, think about that for a minute, think about what would happen if they lost you. I love Noah so much, but he’s riding the knife’s edge right now and I trust you with my son. You have been there for us for a while now and he trusts you.”

“Just take the Bite Claud, please,” the other woman demanded gently and Stiles thought about that voice and why he knew it. He hadn’t heard it in a long time but it was there itching at the edge of his memory, on the other end of a phone call or at the school to pick him up when his dad or Melissa couldn’t. He missed that voice, what had he called her for those years?

Stiles thought about the laughter, that voice and he gasped. “Aunt Tata,” he whispered (apparently her name was Tally). He hadn’t thought about her for a long time and hadn’t seen her in an even longer time. Aunt Tata was someone that Stiles had spent a lot of time with during the days before kindergarten and even after school some days, when he wasn’t spending the evening with the McCall’s then she just disappeared like his mother had. And his Dad had never mentioned her, had never made sure that he remembered those people who had loved his mom like they did. Stiles wondered why, though it was probably because he’d been working himself into the ground and drinking concurrently. He knew her as Aunt Tata because he hadn’t been able to say her whole name and she was apparently a werewolf, someone who was either an Alpha or had an alpha because she’d purposefully offered Stiles’s mother the Bite.

He refocused in time to hear his mother speak and Stiles could _hear_ the gently smile in his mother’s tone when she did. “You know as well as I do that it mostly definitely won’t take, my body is failing and I don’t think it would heal this anyway. There’s been too much damage already. I am not here to save myself; I’m here to see that my son doesn’t just fade with me. Please Tally?”

“What can I do?” the lady, Tally (his Tata and Stiles was still having a hard time dealing with that remembrance and the fact that somehow he’d forgotten about her), responded with a devastating sigh. Stiles wondered if this had really happened when he was a kid or not? It was hard to argue with the recollection of one of his protectors as a child.

“Take them in, keep them close and show Stiles that he’s still got a mother’s love, even if it’s not the one he wishes for. Please Tally? Keep Noah from falling into the bottle and disappearing, Stiles is going to need him and vice versa and they are going to need some support. You know how stubborn he can be even though he won’t admit it most of the time and definitely not when he might need help.”

“You want them to be in the pack? You know Noah won’t accept it, not after everything that happened to Derek and with the hunters and alphas. He’s too cautious of us to trust me with him or Stiles. Not to mention, you weren’t even supposed to know about us, seriously you are too smart for your own good Claud.”

Stiles smiled, his mom had been smart. She’d stayed home with him because she wanted to not because she had to. She was a better detective then Stiles’ father sometimes, she was a research assistant for firms all over the state, mostly online and it made perfect sense to seventeen-year-old Stiles (who was still tucked into the seven year old Stiles) that she’d learned about the supernatural despite what his Aunt Tata wanted then Stiles wondered what his father knew that he couldn’t accept. What had happened? Did he know about the werewolves in town as well and just call Stiles crazy in that conversation a couple nights before. Stiles was left wondering if Aunt Tata was a Hale or someone else who just happened to live in Beacon Hills about nine years ago and wasn’t here anymore. Stiles didn’t understand how someone had promised his mother that she would be there for her son and then left. How had his mother ever trusted Tata and where the hell was she now? Though all the signs pointed to Tata being a wolf and she was offering the Bite to save Claudia Stilinski’s life.

“You’ll figure it out Tally, I know you will. You have humans in your pack; you care about the people in this town. I am asking you to take in two more who desperately need something beyond them,” there was a heavy pause, a slight sob then Stiles’ mother spoke again, “I’m scared for my family Tally. I need to know they are going to survive my death.”

There was a shuffle then as his mother continued to cry the sound muffled a little as she was tucked into Tata’s arms and held close. Stiles closed his eyes, he could almost see the embrace. And while he was still contemplating throwing himself into the room for a hug of his own someone spoke, “What are you doing here?” and Stiles’ gaze snapped up and over his shoulder and his body followed as he looked up at the teenage boy in front of him. And in a moment of immense temporal displacement, all he saw was the present-day Derek overlaid on this one and he knew who Tally was. He knew who his Aunt Tata was…

Talia Hale, Derek’s mother.

Stiles snapped awake, gasping and pressing his hand into his face with fingers pressing into the corner of his aching eyes. The other hand clambering to his throat and chest, trying to use the contact to slow the rate of his heart though it wasn’t working. He looked around the room, he wasn’t at home or anywhere familiar and he was alone. Before he could stop it, Stiles yelled because his mother was dead and his Aunt Tata was dead and he had been so sad and withdrawn that he hadn’t even noticed her withdrawal from his life. And the reason she was gone—because she’d died in the Hale house fire.

The sound carried across the room and out into the halls while he wondered why his throat was so raw, he didn’t think he’d been screaming for long enough for it to hurt that badly yet. He could still hear the sound of his mother’s voice, the sound of her crying and the way she said the name ‘Tally’ and now he was here again in the present where she’d been dead for over ten years and it was too much to bear.

A door slammed somewhere, echoing somewhere beyond the sound of his screaming, just barely discernable and Stiles moved to wrap his arms around his chest but couldn’t He was aching to hold himself and felt like his skin was going to come off, he was going to fly apart and he be sent in all directions. He heard and felt the gasp when he felt the pain surface in the reduction of the adrenaline from the fading dream, leaving him in agony unlike anything he’d ever felt in his life.

“Stiles, look at me!” someone commanded and he did mostly because there was a part of him that was desperate to listen and the other part wanted to hear that voice. It was strong and calm, ready to help him climb back out of the pain and dream. He realized in a somewhat detached fashion that he was hyperventilating but it was slowing even as he became aware of it, mostly because that voice was still talking. He finally was able to focus on his surroundings and take in the lay of the room. Derek was standing next to the bed and Scott was standing behind him with his hands twitching at his sides, like he was desperately trying not to grab Stiles.

“Derek, what happened?” Stiles demanded and reached out, gripping the man’s hand in desperation, trying to find something that would support him and keep his feet on the ground though he was laying on a hospital bed, he thought with a hysterical cackle. Then he moved his feet around, grunted and pushed at the blanket until his legs were on top of the blanket and sighed in relief, claustrophobia was just another delightful part of his panic attacks.

Derek didn’t pull away; he pressed his other hand over Stiles’ wrist, “Take a deep breath Stiles. You’ve been out for over a day; you’re still healing and you need to remain calm okay?”

“Over… a day?” he asked, wondering how that was possible.

“You were hurt, your brain was swelling and they were concerned about complications and brain damage. When you didn’t wake up, they thought it could be worse than they originally believed but you’re awake now and we’ll get someone to check on you here in a few minutes.” Derek paused and turned to Scott, “Call his dad?” he asked and Stiles grinned tiredly at the thought of Derek being nice to Scott. What had happened in a day to make that happen?

Scott nodded and ran out of the room, Stiles thought about the dream and wondered how much of it was real and how much was feverish brain damage. “Derek, I had a dream about my mother from before she died. I was in this study type room and I could hear her talking to someone. My mom called her Tally?” Stiles asked, though he didn’t know why. He didn’t need Derek’s permission to remember his Aunt Tata, just because it may have been Derek’s mom. He just didn’t know how to deal with the fact that their mothers were friends and he’d had no idea.

Derek froze at that and stared at Stiles. He was a statue, hardened by shock and terror of the pain that bringing up his mother would cause and Stiles paused too, they didn’t need to talk about this now. There was no reason for this to be important at this moment and though they have had a couple conversations about their respective losses but this was a bit much. Stiles and Derek had a past that started before the inhaler in the woods and they didn’t even really know what that meant. Their mothers had died to long ago and now here they were involved in the supernatural and fighting to have something besides acquaintances and their mothers…

“My mother, her close friends called her Tally. I heard it on occasion but it wasn’t something my dad called her, there were a few women who did. Your dad mentioned that our mothers were friends but I didn’t realize they were that close.  You wouldn’t know that unless you actually heard it? Tally as a nickname wasn’t something that was common knowledge around town or even with us kids.”

“I know this is hard Derek, we don’t have to talk about this now,” Stiles whispered as he released the older man and started to settle back down on the hospital bed because sitting up was just causing more pain. “I didn’t mean to just blurt it out, sorry.”

“It’s hard to believe that our mothers’ knew each other and we didn’t really know.” Derek said, while Stiles tried to figure out how much of his youth was changed and shaped by the tragedy of his mother’s death, to the point that he couldn’t remember someone that meant a lot to both him and his mother. And thanks to the head injury and some constant contact with Derek, memories were being shaken loose to haunt him in his unconscious.

“My mother knew about the supernatural somehow, in the dream Tata offered my mother the Bite. She wanted to save my mother from her disease but my mom knew that it wouldn’t be enough.”

Derek stared at him and Stiles wanted to tell him the rest but then the doctor opened the door and walked in with Scott and Stiles’ dad who immediately pushed past Derek and pulled Stiles into a loose hug. He didn’t know what to do besides pat his father on the back then listen as the doctor checked him over, poked and prodded to see where he hurt and yadda yadda all the while he wanted to demand answers from the nebulous information left in the wake of the dream. After it was all said and done, he was going to get to go home the next day if he was still doing well, eating and taking in fluids. Derek and Scott had been shoved kindly out the door and Stiles had no idea where his phone was so that night when he was alone and trying to sleep he thought about what he was going to say to Derek but what he wanted even more was to remember what Aunt Tata was like.

He finally fell asleep, dreaming of different days and places. He dreamt about the times when his dad had been called away and someone would be on the phone with Stiles until she arrived at the house. He would babble at her for hours on end, missing his mom but glad that Auntie Tata was there. He dreamt about the days when she would guide his father into bed after a bad shift at work and he would snap or push her away like he didn’t understand or trust her. He’d frowned and whimpered at the sight of his only remaining mommy and his father not getting along and cried at the thought that all of this had been buried under the chaos of pretending that he wasn’t broken inside at the loss of his mother. He’d lived under the constraint of ‘ignore it until it goes away’ that he’d forgotten so much of his life, including the good times that had anything to do with Talia Hale, Derek’s mother. A loss worth grieving.

Aunt Tata had done everything she could to bring a motherless child close to care for and protect. She kept his belief alive, just long enough for his best friend to get bit by a werewolf and now he was back in Derek’s life and they didn’t have to be alone anymore. The loss of Derek’s mother was even worse now because in some small way, it was his loss as well. He wished he’d known that Tata was Derek’s mother, how had he not known?

 

The next morning after the doctor walked them through his pain meds and how to check his stitches and the healing wound on his head, as well as dressing the wounds on his chest which was probably the first time Stiles realized what the good ‘ole human element of town was capable of. Honestly up to this point the supernatural hadn’t done much to harm him so there was that. The Sheriff was there for all of it and brought clothes with him and helped Stiles get dressed without any jokes cracked between them and Stiles trying not to be horribly embarrassed at the fact that his father had to dress him. His dad was taking a half-day to get him back home and settled. Scott was coming over after school but when they drove up and the Camaro was sitting there, Stiles turned to his father with a questioning look on his face.

The Sheriff looked away then down at the wheel, “I didn’t want you to be alone, head wounds can be strange. Derek asked if he could help and I asked him to come and stay with you. I hope that’s okay.”

Stiles nodded, “I think I would rather not be alone today either. Thanks dad.”

“Go inside and get settled, I have to head back to the office for a little while,” his dad said with a nod towards the house so Stiles stepped out of the car and limped towards the door, finding Derek there hovering. Stiles held his hand out, to stay the older man’s desire to help him and Stiles smirked a little because this new helpful Derek took a little getting used to but it was kind of fun.

“I don’t need a big bad wolf to help me, thank you very much!” he said with a jaunty smirk.

Derek rolled his eyes hard, and they both walked into the house. Stiles walked straight to the couch and flopped gently down into the cushions and Derek just watched him, arms crossed over his chest and his face covered in stubble and Stiles wondered for the first time if the man really just liked to look like a lazy beach bum who also happened to dress like Danny Zuko from _Grease_.

“You gonna stand there until Scott gets here?” Stiles asked, grinning though the yellowing bruises, cuts and everything probably didn’t do much for his cavalier persona and attitude.

“Maybe,” Derek grumped with a shrug.

Stiles shrugged in response and slipped sideways so he could lie down, “Suit yourself.”

“Do you need anything Stiles?” Derek asked, his voice way more annoyed than the request seemed to need. Stiles just shook his head and kept his eyes closed, he was glad to be out of the hospital but the healing wasn’t over yet and the walk from the car to the couch was costing him more than it should have.

“I just need to rest, which seems stupid because I just spent the last two days resting all the damn time.”

“Can I ask you about the dream you had? We didn’t have a chance to finish our conversation.”

Stiles nodded and waved around the room, trying to encompass all the chairs and loveseat or the lazy-boy that was sitting close to the couch and didn’t open his eyes to see what Derek would do, maybe he would sit but maybe he wouldn’t. Derek sighed and flopped down somewhere close by and he waited.

“Your mother knew about the werewolves in town?” Derek asked.

Stiles shrugged, “Apparently. I didn’t know how much of it was a dream and what was a memory within a dream. It sounded like Aunt Tata never told her, my mom was really smart so she probably figured it out like I did with Scott then Tata kind of just dealt with the fact that she knew, it sounded almost like Mom was pack.”

“I’m sorry, did you just refer to my mother as Aunt Tata?” Derek questioned and there was a slight waver in his voice, like he was about to fly apart in confusion and sadness. Stiles could understand the sensation though he kept his eyes closed, he could feel the tension emanating from Derek and figured there was no reason to watch him have his freak out.

Stiles laughed maniacally before answering, “I couldn’t say Tally when I was little, she became Aunt Tata.”

Derek didn’t say anything so Stiles continued.

“That was the other thing that I remembered from my dream, things are flooding back now and I feel so stupid for forgetting her. I loved her, she was an important part of my childhood and she was important to my mom. Then she was just gone and I didn’t remember—god Derek I didn’t know but I wish I had. I hope you can believe me. When my mom denied the Bite, saying that she wouldn’t survive it anyway her request of Tally was that she just be there for me and my dad, let me know that I still had a mother’s love even if it wasn’t her. Aunt Tata was someone I could call if I needed it, even though my dad didn’t like her as much as mom did. It was like he didn’t trust her for some reason but that wasn’t clear in the dream. I never went to her house after my mom died and I don’t know why but she came here sometimes. I always thought it was because she wanted me to be close to the home where my mother had lived or she didn’t want me in her house and even now I have no idea and my dad had never even said anything about it. Did she ever talk about that? Anything?”

Derek shuffled and Stiles finally opened his eyes and looked over to where Derek’s eyes were glued to the floor between his spread thighs and his knee was bouncing erratically, it was probably the most nervous energy Stiles had ever seen the werewolf have. He turned to look at the ceiling instead so he wouldn’t be focusing on the werewolf while he was processing this.

“I was young and I had siblings and family passing through all the time, honestly I didn’t stick around the house enough when you would have been there, I was pretty much a selfish jackass when I was a teenager, then the fire happened and there were some other things. I didn’t really stick around the house wondering or caring what my mother did with her time. I wish now that I had paid more attention.”

When Derek didn’t keep talking, Stiles turned his head a little and peeked at the other man, “I feel like I should tell you that me wanting you to stay had nothing to do with our mother’s past relationships. I didn’t even know.”

Derek snorted, “Stiles, I know that you would lie to protect the people you love and you’re cagey but this would have been a bit much. I didn’t think that’s what this was about, never even occurred to me to consider it. You don’t smell like deception right now; your heart rate is steady and I am not staying because of some weird belief that I owe your mother or my mother anything. I am sorry that I never got to meet her, my mother had many allies and acquaintances but very few friends and I know that your mother must’ve been pretty amazing, my mom trusted her and they would have been lucky to have each other.”

Stiles didn’t even realize how anxious he was about that possibility until Derek put it to rest, his shoulders dropped and he sighed in relief. He’d wanted Derek to stay in Beacon Hills for several reasons, a few of which he couldn’t even figure out for himself. So he went for the gold of sarcasm and sardonic wit, “So you think so highly of your mother then? You know my mom was a quality lady on the premise that your mother only spent time women of substance. What about me? What do I tell you about my mother?” Stiles stated then cringed because this was still a sore subject for them both and at the end it sounded a lot like he was fishing for compliments.

So, he laughed it off, waving his arms around like a maniac before he tried to get off the couch when Derek pushed his shoulder until he stopped squirming, “Why are you so twitchy now? You were fine a minute ago!”

“I just want some real food, is that so hard to believe after a couple days in bed sleeping then eating hospital food?”

Derek kept his grip on Stiles’ shoulder until he relented and settled down again.

“Sorry, I was making this weird joke about our mothers and about us and I didn’t know what to do to stop it then I sounded a little like a teenage girl with a crush.”

“How so?” Derek asked and he sounded like he always did, though it was less annoyed and more curious which was a change.

Stiles shrugged and realized that Derek’s hand was still there and looked over at it, the long and thick fingers, clean nails which was strangely impressive since he lived in a broken-down train warehouse. His wrist was thick, the bone structure proving that without werewolf strength, Derek Hale was still stronger than Stiles could ever be. Derek looked down where his hand was and started to pull away. Stiles let him just because they were both in this weird transitional place, Derek seemed to be coming out of the trauma driven shell he was in and Stiles had no idea what the hell was going on for him.

“Wolves enjoy physical proximity, right?” Stiles blurted out before he had a chance to stop himself. Derek rolled his eyes but nodded.

“What is that about? I haven’t been able to find any plausible information because there is so much incorrect information out there and it’s not like there are chat rooms for this kind of thing. Is it a scientific thing or is it more about the mythical attachments of pack bonds?”

“Why do you have to know everything about everything anyway?” Derek growled though there was a tiny little smile skirting the edges of the man’s scruffy face. Stiles wondered if there was some small part of Derek that liked sharing knowledge or if he was just one of those people who just wanted to be left alone. Well the poor guy was going to figure out the hard way for a while that people glaring and growling wasn’t going to slow or stop his desire for more information.

Stiles chortled, “It’s how I deal with life man, it’s how I deal with my crazy brain that came with the genius IQ. Plus, my dad is a detective, I come by the abusive curiosity and the desire to stick my nose in _all the places_ it doesn’t belong naturally.”

“Well I don’t know anything about the science behind what werewolves do and don’t do because hey that would require being in the open and that’s not a good idea at the moment, or possible ever. I do know that we were taught at a young age to honor the ties that bound each of us to the other. When a child or a new pack-mate came to us, we would have this overwhelming desire to stay close to them until the bond settled, it can be even more intense for betas and their alpha, or mate bonds but the need to be in close proximity will fade for the wolves but physical contact is more than just wolf cuddling, it means something to us that’s hard to describe to someone who isn’t one of us. Yes, we desire touch and contact, we get a zing of warmth and comfort from it but the other layer that most people don’t understand is we can smell everything better including what’s been on or around our pack-mates. When they smell like outsiders or the world at large, we can’t help wanting to put our scent back on them. It’s especially hard to not do it for born wolves, turned wolves grew up as humans where that kind of ‘coddling’ may be looked down on, something to be joked about which hurts the wolf. They pull back, I have been watching Scott do it for weeks now, he wants to be close to you and he can’t because it doesn’t feel normal to him and the social constraints he grew up with.”

Stiles frowned, “Scott wants to scent-mark me? Because I am in his pack? Well that’s shits just going to have to stop,” Stiles paused then realized by the look of utter betrayal and fury on Derek’s face he stumbled to clear up what he said while his hands flailed around, “No no, I meant that he needs to stop fighting the urge to scent-mark me or be close to me. If that’s what he needs, then I’ll deal. We’ll deal together like we always had.”

“People will talk, they will misunderstand.” Derek crossed his arms over his chest, looking mulish and determined. Stiles was not going to mock the man, no matter how much he wanted to, though he couldn’t stop the mock frown from appearing on his face for a second before it evened out again. “You are young teenage boys who shouldn’t be that close to each other, it’s not ‘okay’ in your world. People will call you gay, freaks, fags… Any number of derogatory things,” Derek returned, like he was trying to convince Stiles not to make promises he would regret later but Stiles knew something about himself that Derek didn’t know because he hadn’t known the spastic teenager long enough to realize what he was saying and how unnecessary the test was.

Stiles Stilinski would do anything, get used to anything if it meant he could protect and care for the people he loved in this world. If that meant carrying around an inhaler for Scott (which he still did just in case) or give into werewolf cuddles, then he would gladly get over the weird social construct of stupidity that they all lived with. If it meant stealing his father’s curly fries and forcing vegetables into the man’s diet on a constant stream of annoying demands and subterfuge, then that’s what he would do. And if that meant that he would keep standing at Derek’s back when the werewolf was sure he would leave then he would do that too.

Derek snorted, “You’re a weird guy, you know?”

Stiles fist bumped, then groaned when it pulled on all of his healing injuries, resettled and waited for Scott’s arrival with the knowledge that Derek was here and he wasn’t going to be hurt.


	5. The Leader of the Pack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hurt bus driver and a weird dream reminds the boys there is something else out there, Scott is determined to believe that its Derek for all the wrong reasons and Stiles is fighting to keep his best friend.

It took a couple of days before Stiles was physically capable of more than laying on his bed on the couch during the day and he didn’t know what people knew about the attack on him and Scott but he’d expected going back to be a little more exciting than reality was.

He spent another day on the couch with Derek as company, since his dad couldn’t stay home with everything that was going on. Stiles had just nodded when the older werewolf walked into the living room and sat down. “Head injuries are dangerous, no one wanted you to be alone. I didn’t want you to be alone.”

Derek settled down on one side of the couch and Stiles, annoyingly cheerful as he looked over at the man. He was stretched out on the couch with his back against the other end and put his feet under the side of Derek’s thigh, bringing the man’s gaze down then over to his. Stiles just pouted, “My feet are cold, I thought werewolves liked contact. I’m just trying to get used to it, you know. For Scott’s sake,” then he winked.

He just winked.

At Derek.

_He winked at Derek Hale._

Stiles didn’t even know what to think about his own behavior except momentary panic at what Derek would do or say in response but then he just shook his head and pulled out a paperback to read while Stiles did as much of his homework as he could stand before flopping over in stressed abandon. He knew that it had only been about an hour but enough was enough and Stiles didn’t do well with long periods of the same thing. It was why he had so many random papers already written on his external hard drive, “Derek, I’m bored! Tell me something about werewolves! Help me figure out what’s real and what’s not!”

Derek snorted and put his book down, turning a little to look at him. Stiles sat up and scooted closer, assuming he was turning to share something. Stiles scrubbed his hands together gleefully, bouncing on the couch, making Derek rock with the motion then groaned a little as the movement pulled at his healing stomach.

“What do you know about pack dynamics, the jobs and positions in the pack? Have you found anything about that?”

Stiles frowned, thinking back to his continuous research, even reaching into fiction but he didn’t know how much of that was accurate or even in the realm of possibility. He didn’t want to look dumber than he usually did and shrugged, “There is so much stuff I have read, most of which is undoubtedly incorrect.”

Derek shrugged and moved his arm over the back of the couch, his t-shirt stretching and showcasing the guy’s muscles which Stiles wondered for a second if he had to work out or was being a werewolf enough. Then Derek spoke and he shook off the distraction, “Well you know that in packs there is always an Alpha and they can be all kinds, the strong silent type, the brash and stupid type. My mother was wise beyond her years and kind. But there are a few other key positions that help to serve the pack, especially when it’s a larger pack.”

Stiles had to stop himself from getting up and finding something to write on, peaking out of the corner of his eyes to see if he had anything. Derek noticed, with a snort he asked, “You need to write this down don’t you?”

“You know me so well,” Stiles replied with a laugh.

Derek snorted, tossed a notebook and pen from the side table, something that both Stilinski’s tended to do, leave writing utensils and pads of paper all over the house. Stiles made a couple notes then at the top wrote in capital letters: ‘DISCLAIMER: STAY OUT! WEREWOLF STORY INFORMATION! NONE YO BUSINESS!’

Derek saw it and chuckled.

“It works,” Stiles responded, “Talking about werewolf books and fanfictions is a great way to hide out in the open.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Derek demanded though Stiles didn’t think he actually cared but then again, don’t ask because once the question is asked Stiles is the type of person that has to answer.

“Books, you know those things that had fictional stories inside of them?” he started sarcastically.

Derek glared at him, “What is a fanfiction?”

“Stories written about things like TV shows and movies, books and video games. Things like that.”

Derek nodded, “Why do people do this then?”

“Instant gratification,” Stiles responded with another wink, “They are getting what they want when the writers are to chicken shit to do something they want. Maybe their beloved characters die, boom they can write something where that person doesn’t. They can write two or more people together if that’s what yanks their chain, just another way for people to express themselves in a world that already exists.”

Derek shook his head, “I don’t even know what to say about that or the fact that you know about it.”

“I live and breathe Google, finding fanfiction is a disaster or blessing waiting to happen especially if you type in ‘werewolves, mythology’ duh.”

“Anyways,” Derek replied like if it wasn’t his fault they started down that particular train of thought. Stiles wondered what people would write about him if he was in a fanfiction. Please let him be not a virgin if people are going to write about him. Though he didn’t think he’d want to be the Jackson of the story either, being cool at any cost or just deciding that he’d also like to be a douche as well as cool. “There are Alphas and Betas. Scott and I are both betas, my sister Laura was an Alpha, I was actually surprised when her death didn’t pass it on to me, which can only mean that she was killed by a werewolf though the circumstances of her death points to the hunters.”

“Sorry again,” Stiles whispers miserably.

“Not your fault,” he grumbled then scrubbed his face with his hands and Stiles noticed that the stubble was getting long enough to be the start of a beard which left him wondering how the man shaved without a bathroom or a mirror before Derek started speaking again. “A large pack has many needs so here are a few that we’ve had and what other packs will have sometimes: we have Enforcers, those are the strong ones, those who are capable and able to protect the Alpha, they are ones that seek out the troublemakers in the pack and let them know that their behavior is being watched, though that’s just an example of how enforcers can be utilized within the pack but they are mostly for the sake of the Alpha in dangerous situations or pack business with other Alphas. Then we have the Dinamarca.”

Stiles wrote that down feverish with excitement over the information Derek was willing to share even though everything was starting to hurt from the tension singing in his body. “That Spanish?”

“Yes, the Dinamarca is the one who makes our house or place into a home, someone special and loving, someone who brings the pack together and turns them into a family, that’s what happens in strong and healthy packs anyway. So many of werewolf packs are started for all the wrong reasons, power and strength. My mother was always there for other alphas, trying to help them onto the right path but without some of these aspects of care and consideration, they will struggle to stay together.”

Stiles looked up, “What about a Second, do you have a clear line of succession or is the Alpha is out of town or out of commission, who is there for the rest of the pack?”

“Yes, again large packs, ones that maybe weren’t all family normally have a Second, my father was my mom’s Second, meant that sometimes they were separated and actually it has been recommended through some packs that the Second shouldn’t be the significant other of the Alpha because when it comes to relationships, the idea of losing your partner is devastating.”

“So the bond thing isn’t just bullshit magic and mythology of romance writers?” Stiles asked, he’d read a lot of stories about soul-bonds and Mated pairs and other things that would make him blush if he thought about them right now, he couldn’t help but think it would be nice to have a soul mate. Mostly because he liked the idea of it, he liked the Scott and Allison of it all, he was mostly annoyed by the new couple and how Scott used his abilities to get the girl but then again, he had the girl and they were on their way to puke-worthy fluff status.

Derek shrugged and stayed silent for a minute. Stiles looked up and watched him close off for a second then take a deep breath and started talking, the neutral tone communicating to Stiles that for some reason this was a tough topic for the werewolf.

“It’s not something I have ever felt and there isn’t any magical whammy telling us that we are choosing the right person for us, we fall in love like humans, stupidly. Once we fall in love, a bond forms that is connected to the magic that makes us different, to the wolf inside of us. We are magic, were mythical creatures that have the ability to change our shape, we are born in the body of humans but we carry the soul of a wolf and that wolf seeks out a partner. We want someone strong, someone to accept and love us and that binds us together and to the rest of the pack. That bond is real, it’s just not instantaneous.”

Stiles nodded and paused in his scribbling because this was something important and it wasn’t just cool to the teenager. This was something heavy and real to Derek and his family and he refused to take the information lightly, “Interesting.”

Derek smirked a little as he looked up and tilted his head as he thought of something, “There’s this one author that actually got it right when it comes to mates of werewolves and what they are called. I always wonder about the authors and myths that get it right, like how did they get the information and they are definitely not wolves themselves otherwise they wouldn’t have written about it, especially about mates because that is something each and every one of us holds dear. Luckily hunters don’t care enough about how healthy packs actually function to listen, they only want to make assumptions about all of us and call us monsters. Thankfully they also don’t seem to care that there is one person who is more important than any other in the world and that person or wolf could be used against the pack. The bond seeks to bring them together so in times where the Second would have to be away from the Alpha, that would only succeed in hurting the Lupa which hurts and angers the Alpha. Plus the Lupa is a closely guarded secret outside of a pack because they can be used to cripple a pack because of the bond. When the Alpha is hurting, or scared, so is the pack.”

“Wow that’s terrifying and really neat. Maybe its not just about wolves, I think my mother was my father’s Lupa and when she died I didn’t think he was going to survive. Does that happen a lot, the surviving partner just dies too?” he paused and looked up to see the hard look on Derek’s face and motioned spastically, “Wow, you don’t have to answer that.”

Derek shrugged and his face softened again, “Thankfully I never needed to know if one would survive without the other because they died together. Yes, to answer your question, there were a lot of times when the loss of a werewolf’s mate caused the remaining wolf to go crazy or kill themselves.”

Stiles finished writing some notes and paused, “Have you ever heard of werewolf divorce, like does the supernatural bond keep that from happening? Do werewolves fall in lust with the wrong person, bond with the wrong person and end up in heated divorces later?”

Derek snorted, “You’re so weird! Of course, it happens, sometimes it’s even uglier than you see with humans because we have higher passion and bigger reactions than you do. Sometimes it gets violent. We’re still human and even with instincts we still make mistakes, especially when it comes to love.”

“Wow, that just blows all those crazy romance stories out of the water,” Stiles said with a chuckle. He put down the pen and watched as Derek just ran his palm along the back of the couch. He was so quiet most of the time, it was interesting to hear Derek talk about something like this, knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that there were ways in which the older man had grown up a little differently but he was mostly the same. They were the same in all the important ways and some pretty traumatic ways as well.

“Can I ask something that came from information I had about Laura?”

Derek frowned, looking unsure about saying yes.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, of course.”

“Okay,” Derek said, still leery.

“What was with her being a wolf in the grave? She didn’t have just crazy sideburns and claws; she was an actual wolf!”

“All werewolves are capable of taking on a full wolf form, though turned wolves have to be taught and it’s a skill like anything else and because so many never receive the training and support that born werewolf packs have they never learn. I could do it when I was younger but around the age of fifteen when I struggled to control the shift, I lost the ability. My mother was going to help me but things happened. I haven’t shifted in a long time. My mother transitioned from wolf to woman and back again better than anyone I have ever seen except maybe Laura.”

Stiles nodded, “Have you tried to do it?”

Derek nodded then shrugged as he clasped his hands together in his lap, “I have something inside of me, some sort of mental block that’s keeping me from shifting completely but I think its sadly the same thing that keeps me from losing myself on the full moon.”

“Yeah I was wondering how you do that,” Stiles said. “Scott said something about it when he saw you in the woods after the party when you took Alison home. We didn’t even know you were a werewolf then, you have good control.”

“It’s called an Anchor, something that keeps me human when all the wolf wants is to be free, to fight and to get back at those who hurt it. Mine is anger, a rage that is so human that I could never be lost to the wolf. The problem is, the ability to shift into the wolf demands a level of surrender that I don’t have anymore, and I don’t know if I could ever get it back without losing everything else as well.”

Stiles nodded, “It makes sense but I hope you can learn to Anchor yourself with something a little less ulcer-inducing.”

Derek snorted with a little smile, “Werewolves don’t get ulcers.”

“Yet,” Stiles said smirking.

Derek’s cheek lifted in a baby smile, then he stood and pressed a hand into Stiles’ shoulder, “Can I make you a sandwich?”

Stiles laughed, “Please! Big bad Derek wolf going to make me food?”

“I mean it,” Derek said then bopped Stiles in the back of the head gently so Stiles smiled and nodded.

“Thanks Sourwolf.”

Derek groaned but went on his way to the kitchen. The rest of the day was spent playing chess (Derek was surprisingly good) and reading. Stiles got caught up on the rest of his homework, mumbled through several more term papers for pay. That lead Derek to ask what he was doing and Stiles grinned through his explanation and for a werewolf who was squatting in an abandoned warehouse Derek sure was a moral dude. He tutted in displeasure but didn’t actively try to stop him. If the Sheriff of Beacon Hills couldn’t stop his own son from this kind of behavior, Derek Hale wasn’t going to be able to, Stiles thought with a grin.

And the next day Stiles trudged out to the jeep at high-school-o’clock in the morning and met Scott outside about fifteen minutes later. The doctor said he was well enough to get back to school but to keep watch for a couple different symptoms of the head wound not healing and he wasn’t allowed to play lacrosse or practice for at least a week if not longer (contingent on his doctor’s orders and how well he was healing). He was well and truly on the bench and if it wasn’t for Coach being an insane person he would just skip all together but Finstock would ream him if he didn’t show up to keep the bench warm during practice. And though people noticed the bruising (Alison cooed all over him like he was a puppy which sadly Stiles enjoyed more than he should have, not because he liked her or wanted her) but everyone was much more excited about the fact that Scott had been accused of taking steroids, he’d been exonerated and then they had fought their accusers which had made him an overnight sensation.

Scott had spent the bulk of the morning apologizing to Stiles for any multitude of things that he thought he was guilty of, Stiles agreeing to one or two and ignoring the rest. It was the best thing he could do under the circumstances because Scott had always had an over developed sense of responsibility. Stiles didn’t want to be popular despite how much he used to like the idea of it, Scott could have it.

He sat down to lunch, pleased that the act wasn’t as painful as it was even a day ago though if people bumped him at all then that was a completely different story. He’d been ‘lucky’ that when their attackers had been hitting and kicking him, they hadn’t broken anything, a couple of bruised ribs but that was preferable when they still had an alpha to find and he still had a best friend to keep alive and out of the hands of hunters especially since said best friend was an ignorant twat sometimes.

One of the weird benefits from Stiles getting his ass handed to him was Scott and Derek weren’t as antagonistic with each other, they clearly would never be fast friends but they were willing to start working together. They were supposed to have their first session after lacrosse practice tonight and the two teens were going to drive together in the jeep over to the warehouse district and get to work. Stiles didn’t know what they were planning on doing but he was glad that they were going to try to give Scott a chance to survive this thing. Stiles figured it would also be a bit of fun to watch his best friend get the tar beat out of him, mostly because he got hurt in the fight against the opposing lacrosse players but because of this new supernatural status Scott didn’t end up in the hospital for several days. Stiles was petty sometimes, he wasn’t proud of it but it wasn’t going to change the glee he felt at the idea of watching Scott train.

For the time being he listened as Scott, Allison, Lydia and Jackson talked around him and to a couple of their friends who were also sitting at the table. It was a strange feeling to be surrounded by people, normally it was just Stiles and Scott and most of the time they didn’t even eat in the cafeteria and then Allison happened so here they were. Stiles didn’t know if he liked it or not.

Jackson was just as sullen as he ever was and Scott was whispering to Allison, making her smile. She had dimples because of course she did, Scott’s nose slid along the side of her cheek as his lips slipped up to her ear and Stiles had to look away because it was amazing what one little werewolf bite had done for his friend—Derek was right the Bite was a gift.

Classes were dull, he’d already done most of the readings, handed in the assignments thanks to Scott and his dad getting them for him and lacrosse was a lot of SSDD (same shit different day), Scott showing off a little too much, Jackson pouting and attempting to ram Scott into the ground while Danny desperately tried to keep Jackson from killing anyone including Scott. The rest of the team practiced because they didn’t have drama and private vendettas to worry about. Then they showered and drove to Derek’s.

He watched as Derek indeed kicked Scott’s ass, bruised and battered him a little and he even broke Scott’s wrist when he shifted and couldn’t change back immediately. Stiles tried to get up from his seat when that happened, concerned that Derek had snapped or something but his body wasn’t responding as quickly as he was used to and the pain arced inside him leaving him gripping his head in response. Derek hissed in Scott’s face, “Stay human! It’s too easy to fall prey to the arrogance that comes from having the strength to fight for yourself but sometimes it can’t just be about violence and you can’t lose control on the field if you want to remain on the team. Pain keeps you human. Pain makes you remember what you were like before the Bite, it forces you to keep your balance in an ever-unbalancing world.”

Scott growled at him, “Is that so? Are you going to break bones every time I shift?”

“Yes, you have to learn and this is the way.” Then Derek released Scott’s arm and he flopped to the ground to sit and the older werewolf turned to Stiles, “Are you okay? Do you need a pill or the pain drain?”

Stiles stared at him in confusion between the day before and this he didn’t know what the guy was doing anymore, “I’m fine Derek.”

Derek glared at him, his eyebrows judging Stiles for the lie but he had no intention of getting in between those two when they were sparring, this was ‘lives at stake’ kind of important and he was the idiot that tried to force his healing body to do something it shouldn’t have been doing yet. Plus Scott was still bizarrely jealous of Stiles’ friendship with Derek and he didn’t want to start ‘wolf cuddling’ with Derek before he had solidified some of the same with his best friend and they hadn’t been able to talk about it yet not that he thought it was going to go well at all. At least the grappling seemed to be psyching them both up as well as tiring them out, like the wrestling was feeding that need for pack just as well as cuddling may have. He would have to remember that cuddling and violence were both options…

Scott healed with a pop in his wrist that Stiles heard and winced. Then they started sparring again and Stiles watched them move mostly because it was interesting to see what strengths and weaknesses each of them might have; like Derek was just trusting his strength to protect him from Scott’s attacks which would work for a while but they both needed to be strong, resilient and smart. Stiles thought about what he could do about that, if anything. What they were doing was working for them and honestly Stiles understood beyond a shadow of doubt that if he had any plan to survive his new supernatural friends, he was going to have to learn to fight and probably fight dirty if it came down to it, he just didn’t know where to go to learn such a thing. It would be hard to explain to anyone that the reason he wanted to learn some kind of martial arts was because his best friend was a werewolf and it meant that he was going to get hurt. The other much crazier option was to go straight to the source, the Argent’s and ask them for help but then they would ask questions and Scott could get outed.

Training ended after another half an hour and Derek kicked them out without another thought while Stiles winked at him to which Derek just shook his head and turned away towards his little nest of blankets in the train car. He drove Scott back to his mother’s house and headed home. His dad wasn’t there and he sighed, not looking forward to spending the night in a big and empty house. He didn’t like to tell anyone but there were times when he closed his eyes and he could still feel the hits raining down on his head and body. He slept the night before because he dosed himself with some pretty heavy sleep aids and one of his pain pills, much to Derek’s displeasure when Stiles told him.

He got changed for bed then booted up his laptop and checked his email for one of the last requests he had for papers then opened another page and started researching martial arts, or any fighting style that might not only help him with strength as well as stamina. He figured he would have to ask around because there was a lot of sites postulating that they had the cure for this, or the way to strength train and achieve success in a record amount of time. He needed anecdotal evidence so he worked through several of the websites, focusing on the comments section specifically until he was falling asleep at the computer desk.

Tomorrow was another day; they would have time to train and Scott was going to be okay now that he was willing to at least hear Derek out about some training though he groaned when he thought about the papers he didn’t write. There would be twice as many tomorrow and if he was going to start training then he was going to need some money for lessons. He tabbed out a quick reminder on his phone to focus on his paper writing tomorrow night then turned it off.

When his alarm went off the next morning Stiles groaned and slapped it into silence, his eyes still glued shut as a different sound persisted. He pulled his face out of the pillow and flopped his hand around until it grabbed at his phone and found a message from Scott, **‘Can you pick me up? Weird dream and we should talk about it before we get to school.’**

**‘Weird like supernatural weird?’**

**‘Yes.’**

**‘Got it, I’ll be there in about ten minutes.’**

Stiles chuckled, they hadn’t really thought about that in the beginning and had said more than one thing that had people stopping and at staring them in the hallways. Once one of their classmates heard something and asked, “Did you just say werewolves?”

Stiles had just laughed it off and responded with, “Yeah, writing a fanfiction about Mercy Thompson, you know her right? I just love her.”

Their classmate just shook her head as she walked away and Stiles sighed while Scott frowned, “Mercy Thompson?”

“I had to think of something, people are going to keep asking if we can’t learn how to have these conversations somewhere else. Maybe before or after school, not in the hallways anymore, there is only so much the hustle and bustle of teenagers can cover. Honestly its asinine to talk about it here.”

Scott nodded, “But Mercy Thompson, why her? You couldn’t have gone with the original Wolfman or something more manly?”

“You sure seem to at least know who she is,” Stiles said with a waggle of his eyebrows to which Scott groaned so he continued. “Anyway this was more fun,” Stiles said with a grin and a wink. Scott just shook his head and they had continued walking though they really did start talking about Mercy and her life with a pack and an Alpha mate. Neither of them knew much about it, though Stiles knew more just because he tended to read whatever was handy when he couldn’t sleep and he tended to check out weird books from the library both non-fiction and fiction and since Scott became a werewolf he’d been reading Wiki reports and google notes about all sorts of werewolf book series, as well as TV shows and mythology. Hence the choice to stop talking about it in the hallways had commenced and when they did, they used a code.

Stiles quickly packed his bag, grabbed his phone and keys before he headed out to the jeep. He picked up Scott a few minutes later and the teen wolf regaled him with the story of his ‘date’ with Alison that apparently turned into a murder on the school bus.

“So you killed her and woke up?” Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head, “I didn’t actually kill her. I didn’t get the chance before I woke up screaming like a girl. What if that happened for real? I am still losing control and the full moon is coming, it’s only going to get worse.”

“Scott, you didn’t kill Alison, you wouldn’t hurt her. Calm down and we’ll see her as soon as we get to school.”

But they didn’t, not before catching sight of the bus from Scott’s dream and then he couldn’t get Alison to answer her phone, the young wolf was starting to hyperventilate and his eyes flashed that brilliant gold that meant he was fighting the shift so Stiles dragged him away from anything breakable, that he would have to explain later and he walked back out the front door, only to run into Alison. Scott immediately calmed down at the sight of her while she giggled and joked about him scaring her half to death when unbeknownst to her a few minutes ago he thought that she was all dead or at least bleeding out somewhere. Stiles turned away as they got sappy and sweet. Then she was off and running, leaving them stunned and glad she was alive.

“If it wasn’t her then who or what was it?” Stiles hissed at Scott as they walked towards their first class. Scott shrugged and they had to curb the conversation for the time being otherwise they would be talking in front of their classmates.

Stiles watched the clock, pretended to listen and take notes while he was thinking about the dream, the way Scott remembered specific things about the attack and when they found the man and Scott figured that the best thing he could do was stay away from Alison, Stiles groaned at the thought because ever since they met a Scott without Alison was a whiny one.

In between classes he was texting with Derek, **‘Did you hear about the bus and the man? Scott thinks he hurt the man.’**

Derek’s response was as helpful as ever, **‘He probably did.’** Stiles rolled his eyes because of course the Sourwolf was going to be less than helpful just on principle.

Chuckling as he responded while ignoring Scott when the other teen looked at him. They were standing in line at lunch, getting food and it was going to take a couple more minutes before they could sit down and eat. Stiles tapped out his response, **‘He doesn’t remember anything about the guy, just what happened to Alison in the dream, he is sufficiently freaked. Are you planning to help him? Or are you just going to be your normal sour self?’**

 Derek sent a little emoticon that looked like a judging set of angry eyes and Stiles’ snorted, thinking and imagining what it would look like to see Derek thumbing through emoji’s or emoticons on his phone, looking for the best one to send while he was judging the phone with his eyebrows. Stiles chortled at the idea of Derek looking in the mirror and picking the best one. He knew it was ridiculous and Derek was _not_ doing that but it was still funny to think about. Then Derek sent another text, **‘He can come see me after school and work but he is going to have to take on all his senses, let his mind remember what his body already knows. It sounds familiar to something I have experienced but he can talk to me about that. Going to the scene of the accident will help.’**

 **‘Thanks,’** he responded quickly. Stiles tucked his phone back in his pocket as their next class began and was determined to talk to Scott as soon as they had a minute alone at lunch.

And of course, between Alison and Lydia being friends and Jackson and Lydia being inseparable they didn’t have privacy at lunch and suddenly Stiles and Scott were sitting among the social elite. Stiles looked over as Danny, Jackson best friend and one of the few lacrosse players that everyone likes. He’s genuinely charismatic and smart, capable and athletic, not to mention gay.

Stiles rolled his eyes at Danny who just stares at him, “What was that look for?”

“Nothing… Nada,” Stiles said with his patented shit-eating grin that his father hated and looked over at Scott to see him mooning over Alison while he ignored his annoyed best friend and then they were all talking about the bus driver and who he was, Lydia was pretending to be stupid, Jackson was being a tool so Stiles looked up the information on the man. He was a bus driver and Scott knew him from a time when his friend lived with Mr. McCall. Then the dreaded group date was brought up and his best friend in the entire world said yes to bowling and Stiles had no idea why he would do that. They didn’t get another chance to talk about it until they were getting out of their last class and Stiles took the first chance he got and thumped Scott on the back of the head.

“I know!” Scott responded as he rubbed the spot with a wince.

“I can see the intelligence of going bowling with her because than she would have to help you, touch you,” Stiles stopped and turned enough to waggle his eyes at Scott who groaned and they kept walking. Scott was heading to work before he went to speak to Derek about the bus driver. “But a group date! Hang out! Nothing good will come from that. You might as well be her gay best friend. Do you want to be her gay best friend Scott?”

“NO!” he groaned, “I can’t believe this is happening. How did the date become this awful group thing, with Jackson of all people? I think I might have killed a man and now I am going to be late for work.”

Stiles snorted and kept listening as Scott started listing all the troubles in his life so Stiles figured he could share something equally important to him, “I don’t think Danny likes me very much. Scott do you think I am attractive to gay guys?”

Scott just moaned and kept walking.

“Scott I mean it; do you think I’m attractive to gay guys!”

“I gotta go to work, why do you even care? I have bigger things going on here!”

“You didn’t answer me man. Maybe I should ask Danny what it’s like, what he goes for? Ya know, his type. What do you think? I could ask Lydia for some fashion advice, spruce up my wardrobe and attract some dudes. I could do it you know, just try me. Come on, challenge me to this!” Stiles blathered on until they were right next to Mrs. McCall’s car and Scott turned with a grin on his face, one of those my-best-friend-is-an-idiot looks and Stiles grinned back because whether or not Stiles was serious, Scott was smiling and right now that was the best he could do.

“You just want to spend time with Lydia,” Scott said before he waved and left. Stiles headed to the house and wondered about that thing about Lydia that Scott said to him. He hadn’t really even thought about Lydia more than he’d thought about Allison or any other person recently. He’d been so busy trying to keep Scott alive and away from people who might want to torture him, plus his insane plan to get Derek to stay in Beacon Hills, it hadn’t left a lot of time for obsessing over Lydia. Maybe he could ask her opinion about clothes and things, make it about being attractive to someone else, if he spent time with her maybe he could see who she really was. Lydia Martin: Cold hearted socialite or genius with an actual emotional connection to someone in the world.

It was definitely a different tact though he didn’t know if he wanted to talk to one of the popular posse about his possible sexual confusion, especially because Lydia might be intelligent and beautiful but she was also vapid and willing to throw her boyfriend into danger for the sake of her image or  threaten Scott with taking Alison away from him just so he would play the game, a fact that Scott shared with Stiles after he made it through the game alive and under wraps. If she was willing to do all of that, what would she do if he told her something like that? Maybe he should just ask Danny.

“Why _am_ I thinking about this?” Stiles groaned out loud before he climbed into the jeep and drove home. He took the time between school and when Scott would get off of work to finish most of the papers he had on order, he wrote an extra paper about the cultural ramifications of a high school student coming out of the closet that he decided he would turn into Mr. Harris just to see what he would do. So far none of the teachers had gotten him in trouble for handing in extra assignments and that thing with Coach was an accident of too many papers in his folder when he was in a hurry to get out of class. He still turned in the right one later and got marked down a whole letter grade for it. It affected his overall GPA but not by much and as of his pre-SATs, his scores were going to get him into any college he wanted so Stiles wasn’t too concerned.

He was fading at his desk after a while so he took an extra Adderall and headed back out. He drove to Derek’s warehouse and walked in to find the werewolf looking over the interior of his Camaro, wiping down the seats with some sort of cleaning material so Stiles announced himself with, “Knock knock.”

“Stiles,” he responded because he knew what Stiles’ jeep sounded like and probably could hear it from several yards out.

“Scott should be coming over in a little while to talk to you about the bus driver.”

“I went to the school and looked it over,” Derek stated and Stiles was pretty sure he meant ‘sniffed it over’. Stiles contemplated the severity of the ass-kicking if he said something stupid about the sniffing.

“Did you find anything of worth?” Stiles asked, picking at his cracking cuticles, nibbling at them anxiously. The Adderall was kicking in and now he wanted to do something.

“I could smell fear and blood, Scott and clearly another wolf that wasn’t me, before Scott decides to throw me under that particular bus again. It’s hard to distinguish but it’s possible that he wasn’t alone but because of the dream, he’s having a hard time recalling the memory mostly because of what I suspect is happening.”

“What do you suspect then?”

Derek looked over and contemplated telling him, Stiles figured he was wondering about the possibility that he was going to have to say this _twice,_ god forbid. The man seemed like in most circumstances that he was allergic to words and people and doubly so about words _with people._

“Come on man, I am just going to keep bothering you about this.”

“I completely believe you,” Derek deadpanned.

Stiles snorted, biting his lip to keep from talking or laughing out right in his grouchy face, seeing if the silence will help get Derek in motion. He was still learning a lot about the werewolf, Derek was a strange puzzle that didn’t seem to make sense sometimes. So far what he knew led him to believe that he: Stiles Stilinski; was always going to be a pain in the man’s ass. He did love a challenge.

“I think that the Alpha that bit your friend is calling him out, using the instincts of the wolf to force Scott out and to him or her. I don’t understand why they would do it though, but then again I don’t understand why the Alpha won’t step forward since they have the opportunity to take the territory because there is no Hale Alpha in Beacon Hills. I know that Laura told people on the down low that this was still our territory for the last couple of years but she didn’t want to come back, I think our Emissary was keeping the troublemakers out but now that she’s gone, it doesn’t matter anymore. The Alpha may keep calling Scott out until he kills with them but this is all instinct and conjecture passed on past knowledge and the current situation.” Derek shrugged and continued, “The problem is that none of this really matters except gives us more intel on the Alpha.”

“It’s not useless then,” Stiles said and Derek looked over at him.

“Why do you say that?” he asked.

“Because research, duh,” Stiles responded with a shrug and a wink.

Derek rolled his eyes and went back to working on the car. Stiles grabbed his laptop from his backpack and started making some notes about the attacks so far, including locations and information from the police report.

“Why do you even have that kind of access?” Derek demanded when Stiles described something from the reports, something to do with a deer with the same spiral that was around Laura’s body when Derek buried her.

“I remember things really well though I don’t think I could actually be determined to have an Eidetic memory but it’s close to the real deal; people don’t stop me from sticking my nose into the reports because I have grown up in that precinct, it keeps me out of trouble mostly and I respect people’s right to privacy on a whole but I’m curious and it’s a curse.”

“You really shouldn’t call it a curse when you enjoy it so much,” Derek advised.

Stiles chuckled, “I enjoy it but other people don’t, to be fair I didn’t say it was my curse.”

Derek shrugged at that.

They worked in companionable silence and Stiles marveled at it, he didn’t feel the desperation that he does sometimes when there is nothing to listen to and focus his attention. He hadn’t brought any music and Derek had nixed the idea of an IPod when he first took over the warehouse, saying that music playing when you are squatting and hiding from werewolf hunters would be stupid on an astronomical level. Stiles had to agree so he got used to the silence he had when he was with Derek and started to like it a little.

Then Scott showed up and he was still whining about the group date so not surprisingly Derek kicked them both out with the instruction to go to the bus and relive the memory. They both got out of the jeep at the school grounds and walked over to the fence and Stiles looked up, “Well I don’t think I have climbed over a fence before but hey I can do this…” he paused, “Could you give me a little push or something?”

“You need to be the lookout!” Scott exclaimed, refusing Stiles’ foot for the aforementioned boost.

Stiles put his foot back down, “Why do I always have to be the lookout?”

“There’s only two of us and I have to go in there.”

Stiles groaned, “Why is this starting to feel like you’re Batman and I’m Robin. I don’t wanna be Robin all the time!”

Scott stared at him incredulously, “No one is Batman or Robin any of the time!”

“Not even some of the time?” Stiles asked, pouting.

“Stiles!” Scott exclaimed exasperated with his friend.

“Oh my God, fine!” he leaned in closer, “This conversation isn’t over dude.”

Stiles resettled in the jeep and waits to see what happens.

 

Derek walked into the hospital, wondering what he was doing here. He didn’t want to make this his fight but he knew that Scott needed some help, if the teenager could retrace his steps the night before and figure out what happened, then the least Derek could do was see what the driver remembered. He’d gotten a text from Stiles, declaring that Scott still thought he was the one in the bus and Stiles sent the little ‘rolling eyes’ emoji, and he didn’t respond. Scott seemed determined to make him the bad guy even with all the evidence to prove it hadn’t been him. Derek was sure that most of it was the young werewolf’s need to be the most important person to Stiles and he was worried about the wayward friendship between Derek and Stiles that was developing along the way. Derek expected that he would hear all of Scott’s rationale for thinking it was him soon enough so he focused on the man in front of him. He stood next to the bed when he found the room, whispering to the man to wake up.

When the man’s eyes opened and focused on Derek, he whispered, “Hale.”

“What?” Derek demanded, more forcefully than he would have liked, shocked to the core that he seemed to know Derek or at least the Hale name. He didn’t understand why though.

“Hale,” he said again, “So sorry. So very sorry.”

The beta frowned, “Do you know me?”

“So sorry.”

“What do you remember from the bus?” he asked gently.

“I can’t, I’m sorry. I didn’t want things to go the way they did, all I can say is I’m sorry.”

The man started struggling and Derek backed out of the room because there were no answers here. There were only more questions, if the man was attacked because of something he knew or something he did then maybe this alpha was someone a little closer to home. He kept backing away, wondering why the man seemed to know him especially since there wasn’t a scent and nothing familiar. His wolf senses told him there was nothing there besides pain and death so he walked away from the room just as alarms and systems started beeping as the man fought for his life and he rushed out of the hospital and to his car. He looked around and noticed someone lurking but didn’t stop until he was in his car, doors locked and he was heading out. He kept a careful on his rear view mirror and finally when he was sure he wasn’t being followed he headed back to his new home. It was better than the Hale house with the scent of decay and death, memories and not to mention, no roof. It was closed and locked except for one defensible way in and so far, he hadn’t needed those defenses, the hunters knew that he was here but not where he was.

Stiles texted him later, complaining about the research hitting a dead end and he’d heard about the dead driver. Derek didn’t respond in depth, and Stiles said that he would go break the news to Scott after his date with the brunette Hunter Princess plus the Jock Block and Ice Queen. Derek shook his head, then texted him back. **‘He’s gonna think it was me, all the work you have done to bring us together is going to be undone in a second. And it’s not going to help if I don’t tell you now, I went to see the bus driver and he knew my name. I don’t know why. This just isn’t ever going to work with Scott constantly looking for ways to distrust me. He already thinks it was me despite the fact that I have done all I can to let him know there is another like us.’**

 He got the return message quickly, **‘Don’t be a grumpy guss about this, you know Scott is an idiot sometimes, it’s why I stick around… so he won’t get himself killed. Morals like a saint and so judgy on top of it but dumb as a box of puppies. Just give me time, lay low. Maybe you should check the Hale remains, see if anyone’s been trespassing, since its remote, it might make for a good Alpha hide out now that you aren’t there.’**

Derek frowned at the phone for more than a few reasons before he responded. **‘Are you telling me what I should do, aren’t you like fifteen?’** For a second Derek was thrown back in time, memories of what he was like at fifteen, arrogant and beautiful. He had no idea what was coming, shivering Derek tried to force the memories back down into the dark hole they crawled out of because today wasn’t the day to think about those things. Derek figured it wasn’t ever going to be the day but spending time with Stiles was bringing things up that he didn’t care to think about but the teenager was like gravity, Derek just kept swaying closer and closer.

Stiles responded with a little face with the tongue sticking out then continues in a second message, **‘17 actually. Sophomore here. I’m giving you an option for tonight when Scott comes barreling over to fight with you. If he can’t find you then I will have more time to cool his jets.’**

Derek sighed, pleased that Stiles isn’t as young as he was when his life was turned upside down. Rereading the rest of the message Derek shrugged, the kid had a point though he had no intention of telling Stiles that he agreed with him. Derek could go check on the property, look around and see if he scented the Alpha anywhere and keep out of Scott’s ridiculous puppy paws until Stiles had a chance to keep him from charging in, fists flying and get hurt in the process.

 **‘Do what you can then,’** Derek replied.

**‘I didn’t mean to tell you what to do, I tend to tell people what to do. I do it to my dad and he’s my father and the Sheriff of Beacon Hills but I am sorry.’**

Derek smiled at the thoughtful apology, the teen seemed more capable of well thought out sentences and communication on texting anyway, and Derek was okay with the idea of not having to talk out loud. He grabbed his keys and leather jacket and headed out for the Camaro as he sent a return text to Stiles, **‘I’m not angry Stiles. Just not going to do what you tell me to do all the time.’**

He groaned as he hit send because he hadn’t been planning on telling him that and got the response, **‘Oh my god, you’re going! I’m so glad. Thank you for hearing me out!’**

Derek rolled his eyes and continued to the car. He looked down and realized he needed gas so he headed to the station on the way to the preserve and stepped out, pulling open the gas cap as two cars drove up and surrounded the Camaro and he groaned.

“I don’t have time for this,” Derek growled under his breath, annoyed that they had found him at all though this small of a town meant that the hunters were going to find him sooner or later. He watched as Chris Argent stepped out of one of the driver side of one of the vehicles and three others followed him out. Argent, Allison’s father’ walked over to his Camaro and grabbed the window cleaner and started wiping down the windows, “Black huh? Hard to keep clean.”

Derek said nothing, just kept pumping his gas while the hunter cleaned his window, amazed at this ridiculous display of bizarre power of them against him.

“I know what it’s like to have something nice, to do whatever I needed to do to protect it and keep it safe. That was something I learned from my family. Something you don’t very much of these days.”

Derek tensed, his claws itching to come out at the mention of family, especially because he was related to the person who did the most damage to his family, though he pushed that thought away as quickly as it came up. Having a supernatural battle in a gas station was not the right move, ever.

“Maybe a little more maintenance is required for this beauty.” Argent said then looked over and locked his eyes on Derek, “Were you finally able to bury your sister?”

“No,” he spits the words out through gritted teeth.

“That’s too bad, I suggest you don’t get too comfortable here in town, it’s not your town anymore, its mine now. Beacon Hills belongs to the hunters again after the death of your sister.”

Derek watched him put the window cleaning wand back in the bucket and watched as they both started to turn away, “Don’t you want to check the oil too?”

Argent motioned to one of his flunkies, “Check the man’s oil then.”

The flunky walked over with a crowbar in his hand and broke out the window on the passenger side. Derek sighed, thinking that of all the people he could practice his sarcasm on, it probably would be better to leave the Argent and his lackeys alone. Hunters are not really known to be very forgiving or amused by anything when it came to werewolves, they didn’t see him as anything more than a rabid dog.

“There you go, oil looks good,” Argent said and walked back to his car and they all drove away. Derek sighed as he finished with the fuel and got into the driver’s seat and headed to the Preserve anyway. He still had Scott to deal with and he would head to the warehouse and this way he could be sure that the Alpha wasn’t at the Hale house remains.

 

Stiles watched as Scott grew angry and left through the window to go after Derek, shaking his head he went back out to his jeep and followed Scott for a minute before the werewolf stopped and looked over at him, “Are you going to stop me from fighting with him?”

“Yes because this is ridiculous,” Stiles answered honestly.

“What if he really is guilty?” Scott demanded, tone edging towards a whine again.

“He’s not and you’re an idiot sometimes, why don’t you want to trust him? He’s not perfect, in fact Derek Hale has some mighty fine issues on him but this need you have to make him out to be the bad guy at every opportunity is ridiculous and I want to know why you’re doing it.”

Scott stomped over to the jeep and got inside, slamming the door for good measure.

“Come on man, this is my jeep, be nice to her.”

Scott turned and glared at him, eyes turning golden for a second and Stiles raised an eyebrow at him for the flare of temper, Stiles was learning that sometimes the best thing to do when Scott was angry and letting the wolf out was just do nothing, give him a little judging eyebrow, and let Scott get himself under control.

This time it didn’t work, he got up in Stiles’ face and growled as he sniffed at Stiles’ neck and chest. Stiles tried to shove him away, shocked at his friend’s behavior. He wasn’t concerned because it was dog-like, he figured that came with the territory of being a werewolf but the fact that Scott was reacting so aggressively and Stiles wouldn’t have the training or the strength to fend him off, “What the hell man!?”

“What the hell to you Stiles! You smell like him, you spend time with him and you defend him and take his side! You said that I had nothing to worry about that you were always going to be here for me and now this! What is it about Derek Hale that has you leaving me in the dust?”

That pissed him off and he snapped out before he could stop himself, “What is it about Allison that has you so wrapped around her? You did everything in your supernatural power to have a chance with her and now whenever she’s there, I just disappear! What is it about her that has you so enamored?”

Stiles shoved Scott again then threw the jeep into park on the side of the street before he stumbled out of the driver’s side door. In this volatile mood, he wasn’t going to stay confined to the vehicle with a wolfed-out Scott. The other teen followed Stiles out of the vehicle, grabbing him by the elbow and squeezing, turning the skin around his fingers white from the pressure. “Are you comparing what I feel for Allison to something you feel for Derek Hale?” Scott growled as his fangs started to drop as well.

They were on the edge of not going back here and Scott apparently was nowhere near being capable of acting as the voice of reason so it was up to him. Stiles took a deep breath, to keep from his first gut instinct which was to punch his best friend in the gut or his face, then spoke in a clear concise tone, “Scott McCall, you need to let go of me now!” He swallowed convulsively when Scott didn’t comply, only squeezing harder and Stiles fell to one knee as the pain radiated from the place where he was still squeezing. Stiles absently wondered if pressure alone would be able to break the bone.

He grunted as the pain seeped into his hand, sprang up through the tendons and muscle to his shoulder and towards his heart. “Come on Scott please don’t do this. Would it help you if I said that I just have the connection with him, I don’t get it but I don’t want it to go away either. I just want to be his friend, have him stay and decide to live again.”

Something in Scott’s golden gaze flickered for an instant, his grip loosened and Stiles took a deep breath as instead of the pain lessening, it worsened for the space of several heartbeats and he wanted to jerk away but Scott wasn’t back yet and instinctively he understood that pulling away right now would be worse for him instead of better.

“You want him to be happy?” Scott asked.

Stiles thought about it and shrugged, hissing when the motions pulled where Scott was still gripping, the claws were out and small trickles of blood were coming from the wounds.

“Answer!” Scott shouted and his grip tightened again.

“Goddammit yes, Scott I want him to be okay. I want him to know that there is more to life than death and destructive pain. I want to have someone to talk to when I miss my mother so much that it physically hurts, someone who gets it.”

Scott dropped Stiles’ arm instantly though he was still partially shifted and angry, “My father left us Stiles! You can’t talk to me about losing your parent? You think I don’t get it?”

Stiles shouted back, “I know you don’t know what it’s like to know that your mother’s body is buried in the ground after watching her slowly disappear while she was still alive. You don’t know what it’s like to watch your other parent hide in the bottom of a bottle after their partner was gone! I know that you don’t like your dad sometimes but he’s still alive and your mom is here. You can’t get it!”

The teen werewolf stumbled back a couple steps then stared at Stiles, shocked by his anger and the truth that Stiles had been pretending wasn’t true for so long. He couldn’t keep hiding from the fact that he was screwed up by his mother’s death and Derek was screwed up in a similar way and for once Stiles wasn’t alone. Stiles had spent years pretending with Scott about this, Stiles just used the Adderall and his obsessions to deal with the fall out and now Derek was there and even though the Sour Wolf didn’t want to talk, he already had a little bit and it was something.

“But Derek Hale!” Scott said weakly.

“What about Derek Hale, Scott? What makes him the worst option in this whole town to be friends with, to care about? What about him is so horrible to you that you would rather see him as a killer or something equally horrible rather than a man who has been traumatized and has so much grief, I don’t understand how he gets up in the morning. What makes Derek Hale the worst Scott?”

“He’s taking you away from me,” Scott shouted, “That’s what makes him the worst!!”

Stiles deflated because though his arm was going to have an amazing bruise in about thirty minutes, this wasn’t about Derek. “You’re not going to lose me Scott but we have to be okay with having other people in our lives. You have Allison and our social circle is taking a turn for the interesting, Derek is just another part of that.”

“It’s wrong for him to be friends with you Stiles. You’re a minor and he’s an adult!” Scott pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, scratching himself a little in the process. Stiles watched enviously as they healed again. The claws, fangs and golden eyes were fading now, Scott’s shoulders slumping in defeat, from the release of anger.

Stiles snorted in answer to Scott’s comment, “Do you think I am going to have sex with him or something?”

“Maybe…” Scott mumbled and Stiles chuckled.

“Even if I do, that’s between him and me and I am going to be considered a grown up in like seven months.”

“What? You didn’t deny it!” Scott yelped leaving Stiles leaning over as he snickered.

“I love winding you up, though pissing you off is apparently bad for my overall health and physical safety.”

Scott looked down where Stiles was holding his injured arm close to his chest and winced, “Yeah. I think I need to keep working on control otherwise I am going to have to stay away from Allison.”

“Allison!” Stiles growled, “You’re worried about Allison? What about me? Jackson? The guys on the other lacrosse team? Any of this ringing a bell with you?”

“Come on Stiles!” Scott groaned.

“No Scott, have fun with that,” Stiles said with a snappy sarcastic salute before getting back into the jeep, starting it and driving away, Scott could walk after what he did to Stiles. He headed towards the Preserve, needing to walk it off and figured he would check in with Derek about anything he might have found. He drove up to the shell of the house, making sure he didn’t block in the Camaro and watched as Derek walked out of the house and towards the jeep. The werewolf watched him as Stiles got out of the driver’s side and he watched as the tenseness in his shoulders shifted and suddenly he was pressing Stiles back against the side of the jeep and hold out his hand.

Stiles frowned down at the hand offered but didn’t give Derek his wrist. The beta grumbled, “Stiles I just want to see. Did he hurt you badly?”

He shook his head, “I’m fine, I don’t think anything was broken and it’s just going to be a nasty bruise for a couple days.”

“You’re favoring it, holding it close and you smell like pain.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “Has anyone ever told you the sniffing people is kind of rude?”

“Stiles,” Derek said again and the growling had subsided into concern, “Can I please see it?”

He finally nodded and held out his arm, wincing when it stretched the point of the elbow where Scott had his grip on Stiles’ flesh, even in the dark he could see the purple skin, bruised from Scott’s fingers and palm. Derek place his hand gently just below the bruise and took a deep breath and Stiles knew what was coming and then the endorphins were rushing and Stiles sighed because he hadn’t even noticed the pain he’d been in until it was slipping away.

“Why do you keep doing this?” Stiles asked Derek, the argument with Scott still fresh in his mind. He understood his motives, to not be alone and to let Derek know _he_ wasn’t alone either but why was Derek not only allowing Stiles’ involvement in his life but now he was encouraging it.

“Doing what?” Derek asked, a small grunt coming before the words, in his effort to mitigate the pain he was taking from Stiles. It was barely enough to cause the reaction, but it did take an effort to take someone’s pain. Stiles had learned that both of them, Scott and Derek, had worked together to take his pain after the lacrosse team beat him up, just enough that he had woken up for a second but they were able to get him to the doctor. As far as he was concerned, maybe just maybe this wasn’t just taking pain because after having a head injury Stiles had still gotten out of the hospital in a couple of days. Though he didn’t have proof so Stiles just left it alone and enjoyed the leeching of the pain.

“You keep letting me in, you were there in the hospital and I bug you all the time at the warehouse and you just let me. Why?”

Derek looked over at him, frowning, “I thought you wanted to be let in.”

“I did, not just for me but for the both of us to have someone to talk to but I didn’t think that you would want to make sure that I was okay. This level of friendship, I don’t think I thought it through.”

The werewolf stepped back, removing his hand from Stiles’ arm, “You don’t want to be in the pack?” he asked finally.

Stiles stared at him, shocked and struck stupid for a second. “Pack? You think I’m Pack?” he squeaked.

Derek frown deepened, “You really didn’t think this through at all did you?”

Stiles shook his head, “I didn’t think I could be Pack to you or Scott, I’m not a werewolf and Pack is like family.”

“Stiles, if you don’t want to be Pack, it’s up to you but you don’t have to be a werewolf to belong to one. We had humans in the Hale pack, we didn’t exclude them or pander to them, we were a family and being a human didn’t stop us from bonding with them. I loved all of our pack-mates equally and I took a chance staying here, and now you don’t want it!”

Derek’s voice was sharp and angry, Stiles held up his uninjured hand in surrender, “That’s not what I meant Derek. I just didn’t expect to feel anything beyond curiosity and empathy, you’re my friend Der and I’m glad you stayed but I need a little time to realign reality again.”

Derek stared at him then nodded, the frown was still there and Stiles groaned because he didn’t want to fight with everyone today. “I’m proud and humbled that you would call me Pack Derek, please understand that this is still so new to me. I heard stories about Beacon Hills but it had always been silly superstition but there is no way to get around the fact that I have only known about this in reality for about three weeks. Just give me a little time.”

“I’m not going anywhere Stiles and once your Pack, I’m not going to stop caring about when you’re hurt. It’s even harder because you’re a human and much more breakable than Scott, plus the fact that even though you didn’t say it, I know Scott did this to you. He needs to get back to training otherwise he is going to keep snapping and you are going to keep protecting others from him and he’s going to keep hurting his best friend because you’re an idiot.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, chuckling as he spoke, “You say the sweetest things.”

“I know, I’m a peach,” Derek said with a snort.

Stiles nodded then sighed, “I fought with Scott obviously, he’s angry and I asked him why he was so angry with you and he’s jealous and angry, it’s so over the top and he grabbed me. He shifted in the middle of town on the sidewalk and all he cares about is fucking Allison and not getting to see her! He doesn’t care that I got beat up for him, that he’s tried to kill me so many times. I just don’t recognize my best friend anymore.”

Derek nodded, “Just keep sticking around, there were lots of times when I was learning control that my friends and family didn’t recognize me. Give him time, the Scott McCall will still be there.”

Stiles nodded, hissing when he moved his arm to fast and Derek jerked at the motion but Stiles held his hand out, “I’m okay, just hurts but the Pain Drain helped, thank you.”

Derek nodded and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and Stiles looked around for the first time and noticed the Camaro and the broken glass. He walked around the Jeep and over to it while Derek was groaning and grumbling at ‘noisy too smart for their own good kid sticking their noses where it doesn’t belong’ as Stiles found the shards of glass and he turned back with a glare, “What happened Derek? This was your sister’s car!”

Stiles watched as Derek flinched, “I’m aware Stiles!” he gritted out.

“What happened?”

“Hunters.”

“Argent came for you?” Stiles asked, fear bubbling to the surface because he had done what he could to keep Argent away from Derek and now it was all for nothing. “Are you okay? You going to leave? Please don’t, wait until we can find another place!”

Derek snorted, “Stiles slow down, they didn’t find me at the warehouse and they don’t know about it, they followed me from town, and sadly I have a very distinctive car. I am going to have to put it in the shop and stop driving it. They can find me too easily but its fine. I’m not going anywhere, I already told you that.”

Stiles took a deep breath, leaning over to force his breathing back to normal even as the panic refused to simmer down. Hands on his knees, Stiles groaned out at the fact that he reacted so viciously to the idea that Derek was probably going to get hurt if he stayed, they were going to find him and Stiles couldn’t seem to stop it from happening. He couldn’t keep Scott from losing his shit and he couldn’t be with his best friend 24/7 to make sure that he didn’t do anything stupid in the process.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a panic attack and he didn’t remember any of the techniques. His center of balance shifted and he stumbled and then Derek was there, gripping his uninjured arm and steadied him against the side of the Camaro. “Breath!”

Stiles took a deep breath and it calmed him a little at a time, his head clearing and his breathing changed. Then he laughed, nervous laughter but still laughter. Derek stared at him like he’d gone crazy in the last two minutes, “Sorry, I haven’t had one of those in a long time. I don’t even understand why I’m having one now to be honest.”

“You were fighting with your best friend, I bet you haven’t slept well and your whole life has been turned sideways. They could all be causing this.”

Stiles nodded, “I should get home. See if I can get some rest.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Derek said then spoke, “They don’t know where I am living Stiles and they aren’t going to kill me without finding the Alpha, that’s why they are interested. I am the last Hale but they need me to find the others. I’m okay.”

Stiles nodded, more relieved than he wanted to be about that and walked back to his jeep and headed home. Hopefully Scott would be ready to listen to reason tomorrow morning, getting back to working out with Derek but if he wasn’t then he would have to train him on his own. Stiles had a few theories about what might be possibly activating the shift, something that he could work on.

Time to hit research mode again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed, Happy New Year!!! Hoping to keep publishing but you never know with RL getting in the way. I do love comments, they get this writer's mojo flowing!!!
> 
> FYI - One of my favorites lines that I have ever written is in the chapter, its about Scott - Can anyone guess what it might be?


	6. Nordic Blue Monkshood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek gets shot and Stiles helps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my first real breaks from the canon story , hope you enjoy :)
> 
> Also thank you to Jtere7 for the reminder:
> 
> My favorite line about Scott: "Morals like a saint and so judgy on top of it but dumb as a box of puppies." 
> 
> Said by Stiles.

Stiles went to school the next because that’s what teenagers did these days during the school year and the first thing he saw was Scott pacing near the front door and after the silence of the night before, he really didn’t want to walk towards the werewolf.

But once Scott scented him or saw him, his gaze snapped to Stiles and he started towards him. Stiles shrugged, groaned and walked purposefully towards the building and right past his friends, “Stiles! Hey!” Scott said as he reached out as if to grab his human friend and stop him.

Stiles jerked back, “Don’t you dare grab me man!”

Scott held up his hands in surrender, “Look I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about last night. I was out of line.”

“Yeah, and?” Stiles asked, wishing he could cross his arms but he couldn’t because he was still sore from the bruising grip his _best friend_ was apologizing for right now.

“I don’t have the right to tell you who you should or shouldn’t be friends with and I don’t want to hurt you again, I will keep doing what I have to do to learn control.”

“Work with Derek?” Stiles asked, for clarity mostly and also to remind the beta that his jealousy over the man was one of the reason they had fought.

Scott glared off over Stiles’s shoulder then nodded, “I will.”

“Okay well let’s get this day over with because there is work to be done.”

School was again a study on confusion for Stiles, he did the work and Mr. Harris looked like he’d sucked on a lemon when Stiles turned in his extra assignment but mixed in with the rest of the class work and Stiles walked out of the classroom with a spring in his step and they headed out for after school activities. Scott was heading over to Derek’s warehouse to work out and though Stiles wanted to go with, he also desperately needed some rest so he headed for his home and some rest, figuring that Scott and Derek would let him know all about it later if they needed to.

Then he got home and moaned when he realized that rest was going to wait because his dad was home. There was a moment where Stiles really wished he could also climb through the window like Derek because then he wouldn’t have to talk things out with his dad but then again maybe he could get some answers about Talia Hale and some of the things they spoke about in the dreams.

With that thought in mind, Stiles got out of the jeep and walked inside. His dad was sitting at the kitchen table with a bunch of paperwork in front of him and Stiles walked to the doorway, leaning against the doorway and waited for him to say something.

“How’re you feeling son?” the Sheriff asked after a few beats of silence.

“Good,” Stiles said and sighed since they weren’t going to be talking, “Goodnight Dad.”

“Stiles, wait!” his father gave the sigh right back and the teenager waited. “Come sit. Please?”

He did, sitting down across from his father and he couldn’t help the fact that his eyes roved over the paperwork and instead of finding paperwork about a case, he found information about trauma and therapy, grief and ADHD, everything that his teenage son had been dealing with for years and Stiles looked at his father in shock. His father didn’t research anything that didn’t have something to do with a case but here he was, searching for him. Tucked into the medical stuff there were also school transcripts, notes from several of his teachers and all the extra assignments, several of which had actual grades on them while others had some rude notes about his intention of turning in the papers to begin with. His mouth opened in an unattractive maw but he couldn’t stop it until his dad dropped a pen and folded his hands together. The sound of the clatter was just enough to get his mouth running again, “What’s all this Dad?”

“This is me reaching out and trying to figure out the best way to help you,” the Sheriff said.

“Dad,” Stiles started then stopped, coughing at the choked-up sensation in his throat.

“Stiles just listen to me for a moment,” his father said and waited until Stiles slumped against the chair he was sitting on. His father nodded resolutely then started again, “I know that we’ve made a bad go of this for years and I know there was a time when I could barely function but we’re not doing that anymore and I can’t help but think wandering in the woods, the fight and everything is all connected to the fact that we never really saw our way through missing and mourning your mother and that stops now…or actually we are going to start working through it now.”

“Dad, what are you saying here?” He didn’t want him to say it but Stiles needed him to say it.

“I am going to start monitoring your Adderall intake, the doctors that you have contact with have been warned off giving you anymore and they will be penalized to the letter of the law if they continue to give you the pills. This has been going on long enough. I would really like it if you stopped antagonizing your teachers with all the extra assignments that are meant to send me a message or them a message or whatever you’re trying to do with them. You need to knock it off.”

“Come on dad,” Stiles moaned, rubbing a hand over his face, it wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy being a little shit but it had never been about hurting the teachers or sending some message to his dad. At least he’d never considered that as a reason but who knew. Giving Harris papers meant to piss him off had never been about his mom in Stiles’s mind but his dad was paying attention and asking questions that he wasn’t prepared to answer.

“No Stiles, I mean it. Instead of these passive aggressive attacks to force me or someone to see what you feeling or what you can get away with. And I am done watching you medicate yourself to the point of insanity, jumping face first into danger and schemes; none of these things are working anymore, pretty sure they never did. It needs to stop, just be honest with me or someone you trust or I will find someone for you to talk to.”

Stiles thought about that, wondering why Derek’s face was the first thing that flashed through his mind. He shook it off and nodded to let his Dad know that he heard him but he didn’t have anything to say for the moment. The man was removing all of his coping mechanisms and Stiles had no idea what would happen now.

“I am going to be home as much as I can be in the afternoon, I know there isn’t a lot I can do about when you go off with Scott but the least I can do is be more of a parental presence in your life, and remind you that you do have someone to answer to when you screw up.”

Stiles’s lips pursed at that and wondered how the hell he was supposed to help Scott now since his dad was apparently putting him on lock down at least in theory. At least Derek wouldn’t have to worry about him getting hurt anymore unless he broke his legs trying to shimmy down the side of the building.

“This isn’t you being grounded or losing your right to have a life, Stiles so stop with the escape plans because you aren’t going to need them.”

“Isn’t it? Aren’t I?” Stiles mumbled as he scratched as something on the desk, pushing at the papers until they skated away and towards his dad who just resettled them without looking away.

“No, it isn’t. I’m sorry you feel it is but it’s time for you to learn to deal with everything, your coping isn’t working.”

“Like you did Dad?” Stiles snapped, hitting the end of his rope so hard he was surprised he didn’t have emotional whiplash.

“Hey,” the Sheriff snapped, his finger up and pointed at Stiles in warning.

“No, Dad, let’s talk about the fact that you must’ve known what mom’s final wishes were! She was very clear about wanting me to have a woman in my life; she wanted us to be a part of the Hale Pa… Family,” he groaned at the slip and kept talking and ignored the way his father’s eyes narrowed. “She didn’t want me to lose Aunt Tata AKA Talia Hale when mom died and you did everything in your power to keep me away from her. You did everything to stay away from her! Why would you lie? Why would you let me forget someone so important to me and then when she died too…” Stiles paused again, coughing in desperate need to cover the crack of emotion determined to escape that he’d been denying for too long. He wouldn’t let them fall now, it wasn’t time.

“Stiles, you have no idea what you’re talking about right now!”

“Maybe I don’t but whose fault is that?” Stiles shouted back and his dad stood, leaning down on the table to get closer to his son who was still sitting but barely, his butt on the edge of the seat and his hands gripping the table in an effort to not jump up as well and fight this out.

“No Stiles you don’t know! You don’t know what she was capable of, what she asked me to do? The Hales always thought they were above the law. I don’t agree with what happened to them but secrets and arrogance didn’t help to keep them safe and…”

Stiles frowned when his dad paused and there was something there in the man’s gaze that Stiles took a beat too long to distinguish: Guilt and shame and hurt.

“And what Dad?” Stiles whispered, anger slinking away for a moment because this was suddenly not about Stiles and his behavior, it was about something that happened a long time ago and he was willing to share it with his son. The fact that it was about the Hales made it all the more intriguing.  Somehow Stiles knew it was important even though he didn’t know what _it_ was.

The Sheriff sat down, his breath whooshing out in a weary sigh as he scrubbed his eyes and knocking his reading glasses askew. “Look son, I don’t know how to say this. I don’t even know if what I suspect is even true because your mother neither denied or confirmed it but I loved her and I didn’t want to believe it anyway. I chose to let it go but I never forgot.”

“Oh my god Dad, just say it!” Stiles shouted because the prologue was making him crazy.

Stilinski sighed again, scrubbing his hand through his hair as he whispered, “I always wondered if your mother was involved with Talia Hale or one of the other Hales though she wasn’t with them specifically like with her. I was worried that she was cheating on me because she was always there with her; there were times that you stayed with a babysitter for no other reason than her wanting to be alone with Talia and when I confronted her about it, she never denied it. She just said, ‘you can’t understand what’s going on there, you don’t have all the information’. Like that was an answer. I needed more than that at the time but when she started getting sick I just couldn’t handle losing any time I had left with her.”

Stiles flopped back into the chair and blinked a couple times, his mouth open in shock to hear what his father believed and he knew it wasn’t true but he could see how his dad might infer that. From what Derek was saying, if his mother was a part of Talia’s pack, then they would want to be close whenever they could be. The closeness could be horribly confusing for someone on the outside, something that he was just barely scratching the surface of because of Derek and Scott. He wondered how long his father had been terrified of losing his wife and then he did in a completely different way.

“Dad,” Stiles whispered, reaching out and touching his father’s shaking hand. His father’s hand froze then shifted just enough to clasp their hands together and they stayed like that, locked in the past for a few minutes. “I hate that you thought that. I hate that she didn’t just tell you what you needed to know.”

The Sheriff nodded and they fell silent again but it didn’t last long, “I didn’t trust Talia for reasons that aren’t any of your business at the moment but that was one of the biggest, I was jealous and scared of losing you mother and you to the Hale family. I, in even a small way, punished you by taking away a woman that you were incredibly close to which is the only reason I am telling you what I am right now is that I should have never done that. You were so little when your mom passed, that all I could to do was let her in your life, on my terms and wait for it to fade with space and time. Then it didn’t and I decided, to trust you with the McCall’s instead of her and that had its own host of issues but I did my best to protect you but when you didn’t remember her when the fire happened I just let it be. That was wrong of me but after all that you had already lost I didn’t want your grief to be attached to whatever was happening in that house and the fire. I remember seeing Derek and his uncle after the fire, the devastation it caused them and they didn’t deserve what happened to them and I blamed her.”

“No one deserved that, not even Talia no matter what you believed Dad,” Stiles said, trying not to verbally scold his father but he knew the judgement was there in his tone.

The elder Stilinski didn’t mention it though, “I know that son and I did everything I could at the time to make sure if there was a perpetrator that they were caught but nothing cropped up on the findings of the fire inspection, nothing conclusive anyway. I saw Peter Hale wheeled away and he’s still not awake and Derek was the lucky one if there is such a thing, he ran inside and got burned but someone dragged him back out. I don’t hate him or anything though I am a little concerned by your intrigue with him.”

“Yeah, you’re not the only one,” Stiles grumbled.

“But that story is for another time and place, we still have more to talk about. We are going to have an understanding on what’s going to happen around here from now on, do you hear me?”

Stiles nodded, though he knew that until such time when he father would believe him about the supernatural and werewolves, he was going to be walking off as often as he could, he didn’t like the idea of scaling the side of his house but it would do it if that’s what was necessary for Scott.

Plus it would teach him another defensive technique, running away—quietly.

“Well lay it on me so I can go to sleep.”

So the terms of Stiles’s surrender was planned out around the dinner table amidst all of his extra homework and information about his ‘little problem’ as he liked to call it.

 

Derek heard the howl while he was walking through town, he’d just finished a training session with Scott about an hour before and decided to go running in the Preserve before heading back to the warehouse. He growled, knowing that the Alpha was out and he or she was up to something, plus the call would undoubtedly call to Scott and the teen was going to get himself killed or the Alpha was finally going to take him over, control him into killing. He headed towards the sound and one of the side streets when he heard the gunshots and figured that the Alpha was playing catch with the Argents, he might not want to see what would happen with the Alpha sticking around here but he wouldn’t really mind if something were to happen to a few of hunters that wanted to kill him for being born a werewolf.

He turned off down a side street when he heard her shout and something stole down his spine, like the shock of cold water inside the steel jaws that closed around his heart. That voice sounded eerily familiar, something he heard in his nightmares from the time when his family died. A voice saying ‘I love you’ and ‘What are you doing? Why are you such a loser? Why would I want you?’ and ‘Don’ you dare ignore me when I talk to you!’. If it was her then the Argent’s had called in reinforcements and they brought in one of the worst. He tried to shake off the memories of what she did to him, stalked and flirted him, seduced him with her older wiles until they fell into bed. Then his whole world ended.

“Fuck!” he hissed but focused on the blood he scented, she must have winged the other werewolf, and then looked up and caught sight of the Alpha moving away and up over the roofs of nearby buildings. He had more important things at the moment then a blast from the past, whether it was actually her or not wasn’t guaranteed and didn’t matter as much as getting to the Alpha first. He started jumping up and following the Alpha, moving as quickly as possible and nothing could prepare him for the shocking pop of sound, quickly followed by the burst of screeching pain down the side of his body with the epicenter being his arm just below his elbow. He fell and curled in on himself in shock. He’d never been shot before; it had nothing on being burned as he attempted to save any family member or being sexually and emotionally brutalized but it wasn’t a picnic either.

He waited for the healing to kick in and when it didn’t, he looked down and saw the blue tint to the wound and wondered what the hell he’d been shot with? He definitely wasn’t catching the Alpha tonight and now he was kind of hoping that the hunter would get eaten by the Alpha. This was why the hunter’s code that Chris Argent loved to spout off about was bullshit, there was no reason to believe that he was involved in the killings. He had a legitimate reason to be here in this place, his home town where he was still trying to bury his sister, which was the whole reason he’d buried her in the first place with taking it up with the cops because he was trying to do what he’d always done and protect the family secrets and he knew that she would be taken away and not returned for a long time. Laura’s body was still in the morgue waiting for the end of the investigation.

Derek groaned as he crawled up onto his knees while using his uninjured arm for leverage, he struggled to lean back on his legs and jerked at the phone tucked in his pocket then wondered who the hell he was supposed to go to. He didn’t think he could call Scott because he still wanted to accuse Derek of murder even though Stiles had told him more than once to knock it off and the police cleared him of any suspect. He was civil with Derek but because of his motives when it came to the Argent Princess, he just didn’t really care if Derek lived or died. Plus, Derek didn’t really know what was happening right now, he needed information to make a decision.

Information.

Derek groaned because there was one person that was synonymous with information and he would help. The werewolf found the name on his very short contact list in his phone and swiped his finger across the screen to activate the call. He listened as it connected and rang a couple of times before he heard Stiles speaking, “Derek what’s wrong?”

Derek smiled a little bit because it was after midnight, closer to one in the morning and Stiles sounded wide awake for who knows what reason. The kid just didn’t seem to sleep very much though there were times when he didn’t either.

“Stiles, I got shot.”

He heard the shuffling around then Stiles was breathing down the line, “Where are you? I’m coming!”

Derek gave him directions then sat there for a little while, listing to the side from the pain pulsing at the point of the wound, he looked down and tried to take stock of what was happening, why would his healing be inactive? As far as he knew the only times that happened is when werewolves received a certain level of voltage, something learned by the hunters and the Argents through decades of cruel and unimaginable torture that they lived for, all under the umbrella of saving the humans who were equally monstrous.

“Derek,” Stiles shouted through the little speaker in the phone and Derek righted a little, trying desperately to stay awake. Apparently he was so out of it he hadn’t hung up the phone. “Talk to me Sourwolf, stay awake so we can get you some place safe for the night. Did they find the warehouse?”

Derek shook his head, something was wrong. He felt slow and stupid, his instincts were off. And he was trusting Stiles Stilinski to come and help him and his surprise about that had very little to do with who he was but about the fact that he was young and he shouldn’t have to come out and save him. Then he was there, scrambling over to Derek and pulling the phone from his lax fingers and he did something to it though the werewolf had no idea what it was. “Derek you with me here?” Stiles demanded as he pressed a hand to Derek’s shoulder.

The werewolf used the pressure from Stiles’ hand to ground himself, the familiar scent of warm human teen, with that hint of sweat and deodorant maybe some sort of cologne but not much and Derek found himself curious that in a world of people dousing their scents in perfume and cologne, this one teenage boy didn’t wear any.

“Do you think you can get up, over to the jeep?”

Derek nodded and got to his feet, barely faltering and realized that whatever was working itself through his veins was at least a small enough dose that it hadn’t immobilized him quickly. They had a chance of finding him some help at least. He had one number, someone he could call that his mother trusted to be there for her only remaining children. He knew that because it had been in his phone way before his parents’ deaths. It was simply called, “Call in Case of Emergency” and Derek wondered for a moment if his mother was a little more like Stiles than Derek had ever known.

“You knew my mother, right?” Derek asked, shaky as Stiles shoved him into the passenger seat of the vehicle. He rolled his eyes before he closed the door, dove ungracefully over the front of the car and dragged himself quickly into the driver’s seat.

“Why are you asking now?” Stiles demanded as he started driving. Derek caught sight after a few minutes of silence that they were still in the center of town.

“Warehouse?” Derek asked.

“No, my place, it’s safer. Lots of guns and so on, plus Dad just left on an overnight. We’ll get this figured out. Once your settled and we see the wound, maybe we can even call Scott’s mom, she’s a nurse after all.”

“Stiles,” Derek said with a long-suffering sigh.

“What? She’s knows about werewolves, maybe she can help.”

Derek shook his head, then wished he hadn’t because his brain suddenly felt too large for his skull. Groaning, he put a hand to his temple and tried to use some pressure to relieve the ache though his sister and mother were much better at it and it wasn’t like he could Pain Drain himself.

“I won’t call her then, sheesh!” Stiles finally said and Derek snorted mostly because he hadn’t even been groaning about whatever Stiles was saying but if that meant that the poster boy for morality and judgment’s mother wasn’t going to be looking at him then Derek was more than okay with the confusion.

They made it back to the Stilinski house a few minutes later and Stiles scrambled around the jeep and helped Derek inside, one arm around the back of Derek’s waist and Derek’s uninjured arm around Stiles’ neck and they quickly walked upstairs and Stiles dropped Derek on the bed. The wolf just settled there while Stiles rushed around him, all harried and nervous mess. “Stiles, I’m going to be okay. Your stress is stressing me out.”

Stiles choked out a laugh, helped Derek take his boots off, then stripped his bloody Henley off over his head, shocking Derek enough to make him blush across his shoulders and his ears warmed. He really wanted to grab the shirt back in some girly don’t-take-my-virtue way and Derek groaned and he hoped that it was just the chance of _her_ being back in town, the shit that she put him through before he left town with Laura, and that was triggering his very not-normal behavior.

Stiles grabbed Derek’s wrist and started dabbing around the wound and the werewolf hissed. He heard Stiles’ whispered, “Sorry. Sorry. I am just trying to see if there is anything here to help me figure out why the healing isn’t kicking in. You’ve healed from things like this before right?”

Derek nodded, his eyes never opening.

“Ok, I am noticing some blue tinge to the wound, maybe there was something in the bullet. What are the top contenders?” Stiles asked as he moved away from Derek and to his laptop and started typing vigorously. Derek groaned, “I can’t think right now Stiles, what are you asking about?”

“Okay, I know silver isn’t like kill with a silver bullet but it’s not good for you, either right?”

Derek grunted an affirmative, he heard a pill bottle being popped open and his gaze launched over to watch as Stiles downed at least one of the pills. “What are you doing? Stiles you need to sleep. I don’t think I’m going to die tonight, I just wanted you to take me home.”

“Too late!” Stiles remarked happily and went back to typing. “What was that thing that made Scott get cranky and sick. Wolfsbane. What about that and if Scott responded to it then how did you bury it with your sister?”

“Leather gloves, Stiles, come on man!”

Stiles laughed and kept typing, “What kind of antidote would you need for an attack with some of these things?”

“I don’t know, grab my phone and open the contacts, there is one that is called ‘Call in Case of Emergency’. Call it and put it on speakerphone.”

Stiles fumbled with Derek’s phone for a minute then found the list and snorted. Derek watched him, frowning and judging his pack-mate, “Sorry. You have like four people on this list.”

“Just call,” Derek growled.

Stiles flicked the phone to make the call and put it on speakerphone then slid the chair across the floor and up next to Derek. The werewolf was pleased with the proximity, pain making him want to cuddle and he wished again that he was capable of the full shift so he could hide in his fur like he once had done as a kid. He shifted a little closer to the edge of the bed and Stiles pressed a hand to Derek’s shoulder and he sighed.

The ringing finally slotted into the phone call and someone said, “Hello.”

Derek watched as Stiles snapped to full attention but he just frowned as he answered, “My name is Derek Hale, my mother made it known that in case of an emergency, you would be a trustworthy person to seek out. Does this sound familiar?”

“Of course Derek,” the man answered and Stiles gasped, pointing at the phone in shock and it was an amusing facial expression though one that Derek didn’t have a lot of time or patience for at the moment.

“I was shot with something, I’m not healing.”

“Deaton!” Stiles shouted and Derek glared at the teenager. This man was supposed to be helping him, maybe he didn’t want anyone to know who he was.

“Mr. Stilinski, I must say I am not even a little surprised that you are caught up in this, especially with Scott’s new status.”

“Wha…? Huh? Deaton, what the hell man?”

“Mr. Stilinski, what I do or don’t do in my off hours is actually none of your business. You knew Mrs. Talia Hale, she was a favored Aunt to you and she wanted you cared for in behest of your mother, did you believe for a moment that she would not do the same for her remaining son and daughter? She entrusted me with them, and I will need your discretion Mr. Stilinski.”

“What…? But Scott trusts you and you’re lying to him, you’re lying to everyone about your involvement. I know about the run around you keep giving my father!”

Derek reached out and tried to grab the phone with his uninjured hand since Stiles was now shouting into the mouth piece, giving Dr. Deaton an earful about his lies and misdirection and after a few seconds of that, he growled and tried to sit up, causing another dizzy spell which knocked Stiles off the guilt train he was driving all over the veterinarian at the moment. The teen quickly moved back to sit down so Derek could get this phone call back on a more helpful track.

“I’m not healing and there is a blue tint to the wound.” Derek squinted down at the wound and then Stiles was shining a light on it and pressing another clean wrap to it, trying to pull away the blood so he could keep telling Deaton about it.

“It looks like there is some black in his veins, like when he does the Pain Drain,” Stiles interjected and Derek hissed again when Stiles pushed down too hard around the wound. “Sorry Der, I am trying to be careful,” the teen’s voice was beyond apologetic, without a hint of his normal sarcasm and Derek didn’t even know how to respond to the nicknames the spastic teen decided he was going to give him.

“Mr. Hale, is there a reason that a human is helping you right now and not Mr. McCall? Or the fact that Mr. Stilinski knows about your ability to drain a person’s pain. There are strict instructions as what you should be telling people and _not telling people_ who are human and outside your pack.”

Derek ignored Deaton’s lecture as he nodded to the teen and pressed his head forward and down on Stiles’ arm in comfort. Stiles hand twisted and scratched at Derek’s head for a second before Deaton sighed and moved on clearly understanding that the werewolf has no intention of explaining himself or apologizing. He hadn’t even tried to call Scott, knowing that Stiles would be there for him.

The vet was talking again and Derek tried to refocus on the words as the vet spoke. His voice resumed that stoic stillness that Derek hated because there was no way to pull emotions from the tilts and hesitations, “Sounds a little like wolfsbane but it might be a particular kind. You need to get the bullet, removed the herb from within the shell. Derek, make sure you let Stiles help you since we don’t appear able to get rid of him,” Stiles chortled in the breath between Deaton’s instructions and Derek couldn’t help the snort of amusement at the frustration of not being able to get rid of the teen that Deaton was feeling, though he was glad now. “Touching the wolfsbane will only hurt you further, Stiles don’t hang onto it for too long, wolfsbane is poisonous to everyone but it won’t hurt you after a few seconds. Derek, it will burn you immediately. Set the powder on fire then use the dust inside the wound. You need to do it quickly okay?”

“Will do,” Stiles said then grabbed the phone and tucked it to his ear even as he finished wrapping Derek’s arm in a messy mummy-style type bandage that proved that Stiles was mostly heart and excitability and very little training but it would do for now, “We’re going to talk about the lies later Dr. Deaton. I mean it.” Then he hung up the phone before the veterinarian had a chance to retort then dropped it on the table away from Derek. The werewolf didn’t really care, he wasn’t like a lot of people these days attached to his phone and devastated when he lost it, in fact he kept extra burners on him all the time just in case he had to cut ties quickly though since Stiles had been put on his contact list of the current one, Derek had been a little unwilling to toss it out.

He didn’t want to think too much about why.

“Deaton is Scott’s boss right?” Derek asked, though his voice was rawer than he was used to hearing and wondered why since the bullet was nowhere near his throat. He cleared his throat and that helped a little.  

Stiles nodded, pacing with his hands scrubbing his face and his scalp. “We need to find who shot you and get one of the bullets. What is going to happen if you don’t get the wolfsbane out of your system?” Stiles asked.

Derek shrugged, not wanting to say the words out loud, about the wolfsbane or anything else, because if he was right a wicked ugly part of his past just strolled back into town and she had probably been the one to shoot him. He didn’t think he could relive the fire and everything that came before that, even for someone like Stiles who had quickly become a confidant and a pack-mate over the last couple of weeks. This wasn’t just a mistake that hurt him, it was something that destroyed his family, because of all the pretty words she whispered into his ear. He didn’t think he could let Stiles see that deeply into his past and see his mistakes. For now, they would have to figure out how to get the bullet and go from there.

“I am going to do some research,” Stiles grumbled when his house guest said nothing more and Derek closed his eyes to rest for a while. He wanted to make sure he climbed out of the bed in a little while so he could make sure Stiles got some sleep as well. His eyes drifted closed and there was nothing but darkness for a while.

 

Stiles watched as Derek slept on his bed and sighed, trying to calm the hammering of his heart at the thought of losing Derek. He didn’t think he could handle losing him before they figured out what it could be like to be pack-mates and friends. He also knew that if they lost Derek, he was going to lose Scott. Stiles knew himself well enough to say that it would destroy him. So, he worked on some projects until the night was so dark there was nothing but himself in the window reflected in the light of the bedroom.

He made some inquiries and then texted Scott to tell him he was staying home from school the next day because Derek needed some help. Scott didn’t reply for a while and when he did it was a frowning face and like ten questions marks around day break when they would have normally been waking up for school. Scott sent another to say he was heading over to the Argent’s to study with Allison so he wouldn’t be able to come and help with Derek.

“Selfish jerk,” Stiles whispered and tossed his phone aside and went back to looking up information. Part of him couldn’t help but be happy that Scott had Alison because he was a good guy when he wanted to be, if a little judgmental about others but she was good for him despite her family’s past time of killing werewolves but the other part of Stiles desperately wanted to drive over to Scott’s and hit him in the head with the McCall bat for being an idiot. The scariest part of this whole best friend is a werewolf thing at the present time was that it was like the part of Scott that enjoyed saving little animals and people alike was getting smaller and smaller as the full moon got bigger in the night sky. And Stiles wondered if he would come back.

The fact that he cared more about a girl he’s known for three weeks than he did about Stiles’ safety was bad enough but now Derek was hurt and he didn’t have time to help because he was going to be ‘studying’ with Alison. He wished they still lived in a world where Scott getting a date would have only be cause for celebration instead of self-reflection and bitter resentment.

Stiles tapped at the keyboard, his leg bouncing a little spastically, something it was prone to doing when he was tired and hopping on Adderall which was going to have to stop since his father had already said he wasn’t going to be getting any extra bottles anymore.

With a sigh, he went back to his researching. As far as he was aware the Argents were the only hunting family in Beacon Hills though it would make sense that they would have flunkies but that kind of the bullet sounded a lot more like the Argent’s themselves since they were hardcore in the gun business and from what Scott had told him about them, it would make sense that they would make their own ammo if need be. That made the lists of suspects pretty short but he needed more information and though this was the technology age, there was only so much he knew about getting around passwords. That was Danny’s area of expertise. Information that was public or close to it was easy, especially with a good impression of his father over the phone. That had always gotten him pretty far in his shenanigans.

And the fact that the one family of suspects in this case included Alison Argent though both Scott and Stiles suspected that she didn’t know anything about the supernatural and hunting world caused him some further concern of getting Scott to help him. The problem was if Scott could lie then so could she, probably better than Scott anyway. He checked and found that her father’s name was Chris Argent, her mother Victoria, who Stiles was going to check into later. He wondered if she married into a hunter’s family or if she came from one as well. Then someone pinged on his screen under the name Argent, opening the document he found the rental information of one Katherine Argent, Chris’s sister and she had only picked up her vehicle about an hour or so before Derek had called him. If this really was a family business then there was a good chance that she was packing and a lot of it, maybe even packing whatever bullets had shot Derek.

Stiles went to the hotel in town, there was only one and he used a little bit of his limited sleuthing skills to check if her name was on the manifest but it wasn’t and wondered if the Argent’s had a guest room. Family stays with family when in town, there was no reason to think it wasn’t true with werewolf hunter families, it might be even more true because of safety in numbers and so on.

He checked out the time and groaned, scrubbing at his face and pressing his fingers into the wells of his eyes, trying to alleviate the grainy and dry feeling from staring at the computer for too long before he walked over and nudged Derek a little on the shoulder. Supernaturally brilliant blue eyes snapped up and over at the first touch, then before he even knew something was happening Stiles was pressed into the bed with Derek leaning over his body. He was still favoring his wounded arm but the man was built, his legs muscles and remaining hand plenty of pressure for holding down a flaily weak teenager. His knees were pressing into the bed, one between Stiles’ leg and the other on the right side of Stiles’ body. It would have been a dangerous position for Derek too if it wasn’t for the knee that was pressing a little too much into Stiles’ balls, promising intense pain if he did anything stupid. Derek hand was pressed into the side of Stiles’ throat though amazingly, most of the pressure was still on the bed and just barely pinching the teen’s skin.

Stiles took a deep breath and stared into those eyes, refusing to believe that Derek would hurt him if only for the calm that came with it. He took several deeper breaths as he attempted to bring his heart rate back down as an anchor of truth between him and the hurting predator, whispering on his next breath, “Derek it’s me Stiles. Remember?” he asked gently.

Derek released him and pressed up against the wall behind the head of the bed and groaned, “Is it morning now?”

“Near enough,” Stiles said with a shrug and weirdly enough he didn’t even feel the need to demand an apology or even an understanding of what just happened because Derek knew, and despite the pain he was in Derek had been in complete control. He had been hurt and Stiles should’ve remembered what a person should not do to an injured predator because they attack first.

“You let me sleep!” he grumbled back as he rubbed a hand over his face, more grateful than angry, “Did you sleep at all?” he demanded then as anger won out, well anger and some weird pack thing about protecting Stiles.

“Nope, but I think I know who shot you.”

Derek shifted on the bed and looked down at his wrapped arm, “Yeah?” he picked at some of the wrapping.

“Her name is Katherine Argent, she’s Mr. Argent’s sister and she drove into town the same time you were shot. It seems more than likely that it was her.”

Derek nodded and still refused to look up.

Stiles frowned and sat up on the bed and pushed his toes under the beta’s ankles which brought the green gaze back to him in surprise and Stiles shrugged with a grin, “My toes are cold and it’s your fault because you took my bed all night long.”

Derek rolled his eyes then his eyebrows settled into that little judging tilt that made Stiles laugh whenever he thought about it. “Yeah whatever. So Kate huh?”

Stiles didn’t have to be a werewolf to hear the waver over her name and Stiles pulled away abruptly, “Tell me what’s going on Derek!”

“I knew her before; she was here when my family died.”

Stiles heart stopped at that before picking up and slamming into his ribcage at the concept of possibly coming face to face with the reason that Derek’s family was dead, “Was the whole family here? Or just her?”

“I’ve seen Chris, Victoria and Allison around town and I didn’t know them from before. I knew Chris Argent was a hunter because he was in the woods with the others with guns, chasing Scott that night. It was just her, then—before.” Derek swallowed hard and kept looking at his lap or the room or anything but Stiles. The teen had never seen him like that, freaked at the idea of looking at someone. Derek wasn’t a talker but he sure loved the opportunity to glare at anyone who walked too close let alone talked to him.

“You can’t see her,” Stiles decided and Derek’s gaze snapped up to his and shook his head. Stiles held up his hands up and he didn’t want to argue at all about this, “No, you’re not in a position to go up against the person who hurt you like that. There’s more here about her but I know you need time, that this friendship between us is so new and so scary for you. I know it is, it freaks me out too. I am going to get to school and talk to Scott, if Katherine—Kate is at the Argent house then the bullets are there and we need one. We’re going to find one because this is not going to end with you in the ground!”

Derek stared at Stiles, cradling his hurt arm close to his chest and his green eyes staying still and sure on Stiles’s face, the teen frowned and started to fidget under the gaze of the other man and he could sense when his heart rate picked up again and he finally demanded, “What?” he demanded with a stupid grin, trying to play off the reaction this guy seemed to be having on him. He didn’t understand it and didn’t have the time for it today.

“She must have loved you so much,” Derek finally husked and Stiles knew something gut-punch worthy was about to come out of Derek’s mouth and too much of him wanted to know so he asked even though a part of him knew that the second the words were out of Derek’s mouth there was no going back.

“Who?” his voice squeaked a little and he cleared his throat, hoping that would help.

“My mother. You protect those you care about. You’re like a wolf, she loved that in a person, I bet if she was as close to your mother then that was why because you learned it from her. My mother would have seen it in you, she loved you.”

Stiles looked away, bashfully blushing and trying desperately to hide it as well as the sudden need to sniffle into his shoulder, taking about his mother did that to him, “You didn’t even know about me or my mom.”

“I didn’t have to know you back then to know what I know right now, I wish I had known you then and I know that she loved you.”

“Shut up,” Stiles declared weakly before he got up from the bed and looked over as Derek struggled up and out of the bed, panting from the exertion. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“With you, I can’t stay here where your father lives Stiles. He’s not stupid and its maybe not the time to tell him about the supernatural, when you have an injured beta werewolf in your bed. We are going to have to get to Scott and find the bullet.”

“This is stupid Derek, you need to rest. We can bring the bullet back here to you.”

“I. Am. Going. With. You.” Derek gritted out and Stiles grumbled before he grabbed clothes and went to shower. When he was done and they were rushing out the door, Stiles grabbed a couple of bagels and handed one to Derek who looked down at it with distaste.

“No good enough?” Stiles demanded, annoyed as he shoved his bagel into his mouth and started munching. Derek put the bagel down on the dash with a towel so it wouldn’t touch the car and get dirty, Stiles ignored his passenger for most of the ride until they got to school and everyone was milling around. Stiles looked over as he got ready to step out and noticed the sick green pallor to Derek’s skin.

“This is moving quickly,” Stiles whispered, concerned hitch in his breath very apparent to the other occupant in the car and Derek nodded. “Stay here and rest, text me if it gets worse but I am just going to go in and kidnap Scott. He needs to know what’s happening right now.”

Derek nodded while keeping his eyes closed. Stiles pulled the keys out of the ignition then looked down at them in confusion, he didn’t know if he should leave them here with Derek or keep them, he didn’t want to leave Derek at all but there was no changing that.  Scott was going to get this particular news with a thump to the back of the head and Stiles sadly couldn’t do that over text, “There should be an app for that,” Stiles whispered, amused by his inner dialogue as he walked towards the school. Everyone was milling around, school was going to be starting soon but he wasn’t truant yet, though Stiles rarely cut class so he wasn’t too concerned especially since he had pretty good grades and his overall GPA was only being dragged down by Mr. Harris, the douchebag chemistry teacher who seemed to have a personal vendetta against Scott and Stiles but then again, the man seemed to hate all of his students pretty equally.

Stiles rushed in through the door and looked around as he walked towards Scott’s locker then walked towards their first class together which was English. Scott was standing near the door of the classroom with Alison tucked to his side and Lydia and Jackson smooching off to the side. Scott was talking to Danny and Alison, ignoring the kissing booth display that was going on next to them so Stiles barreled right in, grabbed Scott by the arm and started dragging him towards the boys bathroom. He walked in with a sputtering Scott behind him, checking the stalls he found they were alone but who knew how long that would last.

“Derek needs your help, he’s really sick,” Stiles whispered as he kept his eye on the door.

“Why should I care after he killed the bus driver?” Scott asked like the judgmental idiot he played on TV.

“Scott you know he didn’t do it, you know he wasn’t the one that bit you, now stop this shit! He’s dying and he cares enough to train you, to help get me to the hospital after I got the shit kicked out of me and he needs your help.”

Scott looked around, not keeping eye contact. “What happened?”

“He was shot last night, we think it was a woman named Kate Argent,” Stiles answered.

“I heard her talking to Chris, she said something about 48 hours,” Scott responded and Stiles glared at him.

“What about 48 hours?”

“They were talking about a werewolf and she said she’d give him about 48 hours,” Scott answered, shuffling his foot a little on the tile.

“He’s going to fucking die in less than two days! You heard someone get shot, then the shooter say that he had 48 hours to live, talking to an Argent and you didn’t think it was a good idea to check in with the only other werewolf in town? Goddammit Scott, what the hell is happening with you?!”

Scott shushed him and Stiles threw up his hands in frustration, “Find out if she’s there, find the bullet and get it to us. I will take Derek back to the warehouse for now but we might have to move quickly. You’re going to Alison’s house?”

Scott nodded, sullenly silent. Stiles tried to loosen the fist, his fingers starting to ache with the pressure he was exerting over them and the self-control he required to not punch his best friend in the face. He’d never been this angry at anyone since Mr. McCall lived with Scott and the fact that he was feeling this fiery rage for Scott was turning Stiles inside out.

“She’s one of them and you are going to find a way to save him because he is going to do whatever it takes to see you become strong enough to survive them and everything that comes your way. Find the bullet.”

“Fine, right after school, I am heading over there.”

Stiles nodded then walked out, leaving his friend standing there all alone as he walked back out to the jeep then frowned when he realized that Derek wasn’t there.

“Fuck!” Stiles hissed as he looked around then noticed the drop of blood heading towards the school building. “What the hell?” he whispered as he headed back all the while wondering why Derek was bleeding again. Inside he wandered the halls and wished for the first time since Scott became a werewolf that he was one too for the simple task of finding Derek so he could get the werewolf out of here and how easy it would be with supernatural senses. Most everyone was in class but there were a few stragglers and it didn’t seem like any of the truancy officers were around and thanking his lucky stars for the fact that they weren’t going to get in trouble for this, any more than normal anyway.

He tugged his phone out of his pocket and dialed Derek’s number and lifted it to his ear, listening for one part to see if Derek answered and secondly if he could hear the echo of the sound from a particular direction in the school. He heard a faint jingle (ringtone _he_ changed for Derek just to annoy him) and headed towards it, walking upstairs and listened as the sound got louder than he was standing close to the stairwell and caught sight of Derek in his leather jacket as usual. Derek was listing as he walked and then he was close to Jackson and Stiles rushed forward, “Oh no you don’t.”

He heard Derek ask where Scott was then he was up next to Derek and he whispered, “Come on Derek, we need to go okay?”

Derek looked over at him, his eyes glazed over and Stiles gripped Derek, under his jacket and along his side, letting his touch gentle the man. Derek existed in the world where wolf cuddles was helpful and a safe place then Stiles would see that he got it. He used his palm, circling a little to bring Derek back and to him.

“I need Scott McCall,” Derek repeated.

“I know, I found him and we’re going to talk about it in the jeep,” Stiles insisted and turned and nodded to Jackson who just stared at him in annoyance before walking away. Stiles looked back to Derek, “Why would you ask Jackson about Scott?”

Derek shrugged, “He’s always followed and questioning Scott, he doesn’t…trust Scott. I figured if anyone knew … it might be him… He’s dangerous to all of us.”

Stiles nodded, “I know dude, let’s get out of here before you get worse. I won’t be able to carry you if you fall.”

“I’m not going…to fall,” the idea was clearly foreign and embarrassing for the tough beta and Stiles snorted as he walked them back down the hall and away from the other students. “Why did you come inside? I was finding Scott. I was handling it, I don’t think moving around is doing you any favors.”

“Can’t sit still… trusting you to help me,” Derek whispered and Stiles flinched involuntarily, feeling the stab of betrayal and sadness that brought to him though he didn’t really full grasp why.

Derek turned and looked over at him, “What is that? You smell hurt.”

“Stop sniffing me. It’s so fucking rude!” Stiles griped as he got Derek back next to the jeep.

“No, why does what I say matter to you? Why do I matter to you?” Derek demanded, his voice trying to growl and bark but just coming out weak and confused.

“I don’t know right now actually, just get in the damn car!” He shoved Derek towards the passenger side door and figured if he got in then they would go and wait at the warehouse for Scott to get out of school but he needed his equipment for research otherwise he was going to do something stupid and tell Derek that he cared and what he said, though it made perfect sense because Derek didn’t trust anyone without reason but Stiles couldn’t help but think that he had been giving the werewolf reasons for weeks now. He got into the driver’s seat and started the car and headed out of the lot because a truant student really _shouldn’t_ hang out in high school parking lot.

Derek had his head pressed against the window but was tilted to the side and staring at Stiles.

“We’re going back to my house, I need my computer to do some research and my MIFI, otherwise I am going to shove you out of the car on your little werewolf ass and leave you there to die.”

Derek frowned, “What the hell Stiles!” Though he was annoyed, Derek still sounded mostly confused and discombobulated about whatever he was scenting off of Stiles. And right now, the teenager didn’t really care.

“You do realize that I have been fighting with my best friend, my fucking brother, to help him trust you so we could all work together. You said it yourself: pack! And now it’s like none of that even matters, you can’t trust me even after all of that?”

Derek growled, “I trusted her Stiles, far too quickly and with too much! And my family died!”

Stiles jerked towards Derek, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Kate Argent!”

“What?”

They were both screaming at each other now and Stiles tried to calm down but he didn’t understand what any of this had to do with trusting Stiles. Kate Argent was suspected of Derek’s family’s deaths but how did that have anything to do with anything?

“I thought she loved me! She was an older woman, she paid attention to me and after what happened a couple of months before, I fell into it. I believed her and when she let on that she knew about us, I shared information with her, I wanted her in the pack. I was going to ask my mother for permission for Kate to meet her and maybe my father. The night she fucked me everything changed and it wasn’t long before my family was died. She set my home and family on fire. I trusted her and I thought I loved her and she killed my family, how can I possibly trust anyone ever again, not with my life and the survival of the Hale pack, that’s on me.”

Stiles stopped the jeep about the moment when Derek said ‘pack’ and pulled over to the side of the road and waited for Derek to finish and then waited for the shock to wear off, for the pain in his heart at Derek’s loss and betrayal. Of course, he’d had no idea and this wasn’t something that the beta could share lightly and Stiles hoped that just because he’d been angry didn’t mean that his heart didn’t hurt over the truth in what the werewolf was saying. He trusted someone with his heart, his family and she used what she had to destroy him.

“Would you kill her if you have the chance?” Stiles finally whispered, he couldn’t seem to pull in enough oxygen to make it come out any stronger.

Derek shook his head, his eyes closed as he curled in on himself, physically making himself smaller which was probably the scariest thing Stiles had ever experienced. Derek Hale wasn’t supposed to be small, he was strong and angry, he was Sourwolf! He was the last Hale standing. Derek whispered, “I can’t.”

“Well I can,” Stiles growled, put the jeep back into drive and headed for his house. He didn’t know what to think about the sudden, blinding rage he felt warming him from the core at the idea of Kate Argent being alive and well when Derek had lost everything because of her. He’d never felt something like that, except against Mr. McCall when he was treating Scott poorly or when other students treated Scott like shit because of his asthma.

They arrived at the Stilinski home a few minutes of silence later. The Sherriff’s car wasn’t there so neither was his dad thankfully. After everything they talked about the day before, the Sheriff was going to lose his mind when he finds out that Stiles skipped school the day after he promised he would behave. Maybe they would get through the day before his dad figured it out. Derek didn’t say anything as Stiles rushed inside and got some things that he would need. He took his school work as well as his laptop and MIFI, might as well get caught up between research binges. He would start with wolfsbane and go from there, maybe Derek would know more about it and if not, then he would just call Deaton and ask the scheming liar some questions and demand some answers.

When he got back out to the car, Derek’s eyes were closed but his body was a tense wire, poised to leap or run. Stiles committed to not making him want to run any more than he already did, the werewolf didn’t have enough proof and Stiles understood that some of what he described was similar to how Stiles and Derek fell into each other’s lives, he knew about the supernatural and he came around right as Laura was killed, Derek’s last family member. Derek had been weakened by the death and Stiles had wormed his way in, all for the good of Derek and to have a friend who understood what it was like but this wasn’t going to be an overnight fix.

He buckled his seat belt and turned, “I’m sorry I forced what I wanted on you, no matter the altruism in my motives, it has to be impossible for you to trust anyone, and I understand what it took for you to call me in the first place. I get it and I’ll back off and leave you alone but only after I make sure you’re not going to die because I won’t let that happen if I can do something about it,” his words were calm and monotone, trying not to speak in any way that would cause Derek to react in his weakened state and he noticed when Derek peaked at him but didn’t say or do anything before his eyes slammed closed once more. Stiles got back on the road to the warehouse, it was safe and defensible, it was Derek’s den and it would hopefully comfort him right now. The best thing he could do right now was just be trustworthy.

When they arrived at the warehouse he helped Derek inside, though the beta seemed to still be capable of holding himself up but didn’t deny the contact and Stiles wished again that he had the capability to do the Pain Drain, help Derek reclaim some of his ability to think, which had to be affected by the pain he was in. Stiles was sure there was a problem because he’d already said that he didn’t trust Stiles and he was still letting him stay close because he needed the contact despite his trauma soaked fears. Once the beta was settled in his mound of pillows and blankets at the back of the decrepit train car, the same one that Stiles helped to clean, bringing his scent here just as much as he took the grime out. The mattress had come slightly used but it had been Stiles that brought it here. He’d been doing all he could to see Derek comfortable and safe and there had been this truth looming under the surface, one that would never be fixed by Stiles trying to get him to stay and be comfortable because she had wanted him to _feel_ safe and comfortable enough to share things with him and what she did with it was destroy Derek’s family and his home. She destroyed his life.

“Calm down Stiles,” Derek grunted, his tone all annoyance and grudging pain, “Your heart rate and breathing are picking up. It’s upsetting my wolf. Take a deep breath.”

Stiles listened, breathing in through his nose then out through his mouth. He had more than a few systems and tools to calm a panic attack but he hadn’t used them in a while, his last one had been when he was twelve years old. At least Derek seemed to know enough to say something, clear instructions helped a lot of the time though Stiles didn’t understand how.

“Again,” the werewolf repeated so Stiles did again and again until his breathing was regulated and calm once more.

“Thanks,” Stiles whispered and watched as Derek relaxed against the blankets. “Can I check the wound?”

Derek nodded, jerking out of his jacket and letting Stiles look it over. Sometime that morning Derek had dragged off the bandage so Stiles cleaned it again, noticing the dark black veins were spreading up his arm but he ignored the need to force Scott to leave now and figure something out. To find a way to get the bullet faster and honestly he might do it anyway, surely the hunter family would have some sort of an alarm but maybe he could find some way to get around it. He dabbed at the bullet hole, wrapped it gently again so Derek could easily drag it off if he wanted to. Then he set up his laptop and MIFI, and started studying about wolfsbane, the origins of the plant and the offshoots of it. He wanted to talk to Deaton about what he knew but he didn’t want to talk too much since Derek seemed to be using the time wisely with sleeping. Too bad what he needed, sleep wasn’t going to get for him.

Stiles worked through most of the morning, then took up residence on the corner of the bed and fell asleep, his rest was fitful as it was filled with Derek’s pale features and still chest, no life there to feel and see. Then the werewolf’s face would shift and change and suddenly it was his mother lying in her hospital bed, that moment when she faded away for the last time. He struggled against the fear pounding through his head and figured if he didn’t fall asleep soon then he would just get back up and work on some of the papers he had requests for.

“Are you scared?” Derek whispered, his voice pitched low enough that if Stiles had actually been sleeping, he wouldn’t have woken up.

“Yes,” he answered quickly, before he talked himself out of this.

“You care about me for Scott?” Derek asked.

“No,” Stiles answered honestly, “I care about you because there is something here and we have a history even though we didn’t really know. We share something and after what happened with Laura—I want you to have more. I hoped that we could find out what that might be. I wanted to be your friend because you’re interesting and your brave and you deserve better.”

“And you do now?” Derek husked, and Stiles sat up quickly realizing that Derek’s voice wasn’t pitched low for the sake of sleeping, he was getting worse. Stiles wanted to answer him but the second he looked over and saw the pallor that was getting worse, the yellow tint under his skin and the amount of sweat coming off of him declared that it wasn’t time to deal with any of this despite the way the question remained on the air between them. He checked his watch and pulled his phone out, “I’m texting Scott, he should be heading over to Allison’s now.”

He tapped out the message, **‘He’s going downhill fast Scott, how’s it going?’**

Stiles waited for a few minutes before he went back to Derek, dabbing some of the sweat away from his forehead and Derek grunted, “I am going to die if we don’t have another option, and I have one but we can’t do it here.”

Stiles looked down at his phone, groaned and then tried to call Scott. He didn’t pick up, it went to voicemail so Stiles growled and thought that maybe he’d been spending too much time with werewolves then shrugged it off.

“Call that number again, maybe Deaton can help?”

Derek fumbled at his jacket and tried to get the offending thing out of the pocket for a minute then glared at Stiles who just shrugged and reached over to get it out. He unlocked the phone easily since Derek didn’t have a password installed, found the number he was looking for and pressed the contact. He listened to it ring then ring some more and when Deaton’s machine picked up he slammed his thumb down on the end call button and tossed the phone down between them, “Where should we go for your back up plan?”

Derek’s head listed to the side and he looked over at Stiles, “Deaton is the vet right? The one that Scott works for?”

Stiles nodded, “Yes.”

“Maybe we can go there, here isn’t going to help and neither is your house. It’s too dangerous and we need the clinic.”

“What about the hospital?” Stiles asked finally, wishing they had someone on the inside that knew enough to help but Melissa was still so new to the supernatural so he didn’t think she could help. She was still really fidgety about the truth anyway.

“No, too dangerous, I am losing control over my shift,” then he pulled out his uninjured hand and sure enough there were claws tipping his nails, the digits and hand shaking under Stiles’s gaze.

“Then we get a hold of Scott, he gets the bullet and we go to the vet clinic.”

With that decided, Stiles got Derek up and out of the warehouse and into the jeep before he started calling Scott again and he finally picked up. “What the hell dude, he’s getting worse and I need you to find that bullet now.”

Stiles was still standing outside of the jeep and we figured Derek could still hear him though being as weak as he was right now maybe he couldn’t. Scott responded quietly, “You know how hard it’s going to be to find one bullet, this place is like the Walmart of guns!”

“I need to get him somewhere, what about the clinic?”

“Deaton shouldn’t be there, keys under the mat. Kate is here, Mr. Argent is as well. Allison’s aunt is being really rapey. And I can’t get back into the garage where the guns are at anyway.”

“Don’t be dumb Scott! She brought the guns and the bullets with her, they are going to be in her room, not the garage.”

Scott groaned and Stiles realized his friend hadn’t even thought about it.

“Scott I am going to need you to do me a big favor right now, as your best friend.”

“What?”

“Stop thinking with your dick right now, think with your head and your heart. Derek is dying, he’s going to die without that bullet so get it done!”

“Got it!” Scott whispered, sounding determined.

Stiles hung up and got in the jeep, the clinic wasn’t that far. Derek coughed a little and Stiles watched in horror as black fluid seeped out the side of his mouth and he demanded, “Derek what’s happening right now? I mean what the hell man!”

“My body is trying to heal itself, it’s been too long. We need to go now.”

Stiles nodded and started the vehicle, heading for the clinic while he desperately tried not to freak out. He’d watched his mother die like this, he couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t live with the idea of Derek not being here, not just for Scott though, he cared and what an idiot they both were for daring to care for each other at all.

“Stiles,” Derek husked, the black fluid trickling down the side of his neck now.

“I know!” Stiles snapped and tried to bring down his breathing because it was making things worse. If he didn’t get the panic under control, then he wouldn’t be able to drive. He dragged the jeep over to the side of the road and put it into park as quickly as he could. He took a couple of deep breaths then looked at Derek, “I can’t watch you die like she did, I just can’t live with that.”

Derek nodded, his eyes were still closed and the black leaking out of place on the guy and he whispered, “Breathe Stiles.”

Stiles barked out a quick laugh that the guy was dying and he was still caring for Stiles. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and thought his mental affirmation that he used while he focused on his breathing for a few minutes. After a while he got it under control and headed in the direction of the clinic, thanking all the times he’d driven Scott to work because he could find the clinic in his sleep. And like everything else in town, it wasn’t a long drive. He parked in the back, pulling open the door before he walked back to the passenger side door, threw it open before he grabbed Derek and heaved him out and towards the open garage door. He settled Derek on some bags of feed before he pulled the door closed and helped Derek stumble into the main room. Derek started stumbling around looking for something and then his phone rang and Stiles answered, “Yeah?”

“Nordic Blue Monkshood mean anything to you?” Scott asked over the line.

“Yes I read about it a little bit online, bring the bullet to the clinic quickly. I don’t know how long he’s going to last.”

Derek stumbled sideways, holding something in his hand, a saw of some kind. Stiles stared, “What the hell are you doing with that!?” he demanded, his voice cracking embarrassingly.

“You need to cut my arm off, right above the bullet wound.”

“What?” Stiles squeaked, terrified. “No, I can’t do that. What about the blood and the severed arm! That doesn’t sound like a good idea at all.”

“Stiles, you promised you would do what you had to so I wouldn’t die, this is that something. This is the plan B! It’ll heal, I hope.”

“You hope!” Stiles shouted. Derek put the saw down on the table, leaned over the open space and vomited and Stiles looked away in disgust, it was black like tar. “Why is that happening?”

“I can’t heal with the wolfsbane in my system so we need to get it out before it reaches my heart. It’s too close and Scott still isn’t here. Do it now!!!”

Stiles stared into Derek’s eyes, noticing again how green they were and hoped that they wouldn’t go blue and stay that way or turn still like his mothers had in that moment before she died. He watched as the werewolf vomited again, the black blood all over the floor and wondered for a second if Derek had told him he didn’t trust Stiles but look at it now. Derek was trusting him with this even after everything that happened, beyond having Kate in town. Right now, this was him trusting Stiles with his life.

And again, he thought for two more seconds about who Derek was before the fire and Kate ripped him from his family and his Pack and hoped there might be a day in the future where he could learn a little about him, but that was only going to happen if he survived this first.

Stiles grabbed the hand saw and plugged it in while Derek panted, his head pressed against the side of the table and the injured arm held out straight away from his body while he waited, tourniquet wrapped tight around his upper arm and turning the lower part white. Stiles put down the saw for just a second so he could tighten the tourniquet since it was loosening and lifted the saw to turn it on.

“Oh god Derek! Okay! Here we go,” he shuddered as he leaned it forward, the vibrating noise rumbled through him. He was about to jerk it down quickly to get this over with when Scott shouted, coming in the door and Derek looked up as Stiles threw the saw into the off position again and sighed in utter relief.

“What are you doing?” Scott asked, clearly disgusted and shocked by what he walked in on.

“Oh thank god, you just saved me from a lifetime of nightmares man. You have the bullet?”

Scott nodded, pulling it out from his pocket as Stiles helped the ailing werewolf to stand up away from the exam table. Derek took the bullet in his hand and Stiles sighed as he dragged out a lighter that he’d brought with him for this purpose and watched horribly as Derek listed to the side, dropped the bullet and fell, Stiles jerking towards the man.

Scott fell towards the bullet, trying to catch it but it slipped in through a drain in the floor and Stiles shouted while he tried to keep Derek from hitting the ground in a heap but couldn’t quite succeed, “Fuck!”

He dropped to his knees and shook Derek, “Come on Derek! Don’t do this, please you can’t die!” he paused, “Scott we need the bullet now!!!”

“I can’t reach, hang on I am going to try a partial shift!”

“Just do it!” Stiles pressed his hands into Derek’s pale and cold skin of his cheeks, shaking the man and felt the panic rise in him again and whispered, “We’re never going to figure any of this out if you die! I told you that you couldn’t die now wake up! Not like this, not like her!” he shouted the last while Scott struggled on the other side of the room, his friend grunting in exertion. He pulled back his hand and made a fist preparing to hit the werewolf, “Please don’t kill me for this!”

“I got it!” Scott shouted and Stiles groaned, dropping his fist and head towards Derek’s bare and sweaty chest, his breath hitting the man’s chest and coming back to waft across his cheek. Then he stumbled across the room on hands and knees, grabbing the bullet as he rose from the ground. He used his teeth, pulling open the cap where the powder was and dumped it out on the table, set it on fire and then blew on it. He watched as the smoke curled up and away from the remaining dust, trying not to breath it in. He was desperate to just get this working and hopefully Derek didn’t need to be awake to have it work. He scooped it into his hand and leaned down next to Derek while Scott watched from around the corner, avoiding the black blood that was all over the floor while Stiles shoved the powder into the wound and held it there for a second.

There was a moment or two where nothing happened, and Stiles grunted out a half shout in agonized fear while the tears obscured his vision. “No, don’t die please!”

Then Derek’s eyes snapped open, brilliant blue and then he was screaming and Stiles grabbed a hold of Derek’s shoulders, one of his fingers pressing against the rapid pulse point in Derek’s neck as he watched the black veins recede while Derek’s body bowed off the floor and Stiles stayed there with him until he flopped back to the floor and he blinked up at Stiles.

“You did it!” Derek whispered and for a fraction of a second there was a relieved smile on his face and Stiles just grinned back, sucking back the desperate need to sob out his relief.

Stiles cried out, throwing himself down to grip Derek in a hug then in a fit of devastating relief he pressed his lips to Derek’s in a messy sloppy kiss and he groaned when he felt the scratch of Derek’s beard and the werewolf’s musky scent seeped into him and then he was dragging himself away as shame snuck into his mind and he stared at Derek in confusion and agony, hand over his gaping mouth and feeling the slight twinge where Derek’s scratchy beard tingled against his lips and he paused long enough to feel the warmth in his chest that he’d always equated with Lydia and now here it was with Derek.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what I was thinking or feeling. I need to go!”

Then he scrambled past Scott who was staring at him in shock and out to the jeep, getting behind the wheel and driving back to his house all the while trying to figure out what the fuck just happened.

 

Derek struggled to his feet and stared after the retreating teen while Scott did the same. He scrambled at his arm, pulling the tourniquet off and making a fist, trying to get feeling back after it had been numb most of the day. He took a deep breath and tried to figure out if he wanted to go after Stiles or just leave town because this was not what he expected to happen, he had no idea what the hell to do. His instincts said to go after the teen and the rest of him, his history and everything that happened with Kate were arguing, telling him to book it out of town and away from the confusing thoughts and feels that were bombarding him at the moment.

“How are you doing?” Scott asked finally, heaving a breath as he looked around the room.

“Aside from the throbbing pain, just fine.”

“Were either of you going to tell me about what the hell is going on between you?” the pouting confused teenager demanded.

Derek glared at him, “Not that it’s any of your business but nothing is going on between us.”

Scott threw up his hands in frustration, “You know what! This isn’t worth my time, I am going to tell them all about you, where to find you and then this is all going to be over. It’s not going to matter what is or isn’t going on, what is or isn’t my business!”

Derek rolled his eyes, attempting to roll his shoulders and settle the pain that was still slithering around under the surface left over from the wolfsbane poisoning his system. There was no such thing as a magical cure or perfect healing even for supernatural creatures, “I don’t have to keep trying to convince you of what I am trying to do to protect you, to teach you to keep yourself out of the Alpha’s hands and away from the hunters. If you want to deliver yourself to them then go for it, I’ll leave you and this town to the destruction that will follow with _her_ in town!”

“And Stiles?”

Derek shrugged, “Again, not your business unless you drag him into the death sentence you are planning on writing for yourself. Hunters shouldn’t kill humans but with Kate Argent in town I cannot guarantee that she won’t kill him. Do you want him to die? Do you really want to die, just to prove I’m in the wrong for yourself?”

“Can you prove it?” Scott snapped.

Derek shifted his gaze around the clinic and thought of Peter, his uncle in the hospital and sighed, “I can show you what they do to people. Come with me. If you don’t believe what you see, then you can still choose to go to them.”

Scott nodded and they drove in McCall’s car to the section of the hospital that helped people with long term care. He walked down the hall, waving at the night nurse, who knew him from the previous visits and he walked into Uncle Peter’s room as he started talking, “The Argents set the fire. They used horrible methods to find out when most of the pack members would be there, locked all the doors and set my home on fire. Laura and I were at a school event when the fire started and that’s literally the only reason we survived and my Uncle Peter slid out through the underground pathways that were in the basement and he only did it after he watched his _pregnant human_ wife die in the fire. I ran into that house and ended up in the hospital burn unit for several weeks.”

“Maybe they deserved it? Maybe there was a reason they died.”

Derek glared at him, “Tell me what we could have done to deserve this!” he demanded, still feeling the pain burning through his hand and fingers as he turned the wheelchair and the side of Peter’s face was scarred horribly from the fire, there was no movement, Peter just wasn’t in there anymore and Derek didn’t know what to do about the fact that his Uncle Peter’s body was still here while his mind was clearly gone. There were no machines to unhook, no way for Derek to just release the man from this prison even while he couldn’t handle another loss, even catatonic Peter was better than being alone but he hated to see the older werewolf like that.

“You know they did it?” Scott asked after countless silent moments of contemplation, staring down at the scarred man in front of him.

“Yes, they were the only ones who knew about us, they used the information that was found through awful means to kill as many people as they could with their plan, sticking around just long enough to see me destroyed by their death and now, that family killed my sister and she had never killed or turned anyone, she’d barely been my alpha and she didn’t deserve to be cut in half. Now do you understand? They don’t care about their own Code, they only care about killing werewolves. You are a werewolf, you are not going to get a pass because of your puppy eyes and definitely not because you’re dating their warrior princess daughter. She may not be one now but she will be.”

He watched as Scott actually stopped and thought about it for a moment before he spoke, “You think they’ll do it again? You think they will hurt Stiles because he’s my friend?”

Derek didn’t even pause, thinking about his family and Peter’s wife, “Yes.”

“Then I have to know how to fight them,” Scott said with a grunt like he was desperately angry that once again he had to accept that Derek was his only hope or at least going to be helpful. There was no one else to keep him alive, and he hated it. Well so did Derek, having an alpha turning people against their will was something that the hunters would destroy them for, especially since the Argents had already declared Beacon Hills belonged to them instead of the Hale Pack.

And more than a little confusing, he wanted to protect Stiles, keep him safe even though what he is feeling at the moment was something akin to terror, the feeling most recognizable from one of the first times he’d been in bed with Kate and she’d scoffed right after she’d finished, leaving him feeling empty and cold, _“Why do I even try, I told you to look up how to please me and you did nothing. You don’t love me clearly!”_ and Derek wouldn’t dare leave himself open to something like that again. He couldn’t handle if this was Kate all over again and freaked at the possibility that it wasn’t just revulsion he felt in that moment earlier, he didn’t dare give up his walls for the sake of friendship and the rest of it, he had no idea.

They walked back out of the care unit and he waved at Scott dismissively before he started walking back towards the warehouse, his Camaro was there and the scent of Stiles, the place where the teenager had done everything to make sure that Derek would have a place to go, to be safe and he wondered what the hell was happening.

He had a teen wolf to keep alive, an alpha to find and contain and a friend to speak to and he didn’t want to do any of it so instead he just kept walking, heading out to the Hale house, see if he could find some sense of normality again, even in the desiccated remains of his home. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

 

“Oh god, oh god, what the hell have I done?” Stiles panted, pacing back and forth. All he’d done for the last forty minutes was think about the fact that he kissed Derek.

He kissed Derek.

He.

_Kissed!_

_Derek Hale!_

_On the mouth!_

And he kind of wanted to do it again! What the actual fuck was going on here!

There was no way he would ever be trustworthy again, and by the way why had he done it in the first place? He’d been in love with Lydia Martin since he was in grade school and now he’d been so terrified of losing Derek and then when he didn’t, he’d kissed him. Stiles didn’t get it, he turned back to the computer and started a search for some amateur gay porn and started watching just to see and there was nothing, no desperate need to find some random guy to fuck or be fucked by, but the idea that he could lose Derek scared him more than he could bear. It wasn’t about some random dick, same way that it was never just about boobs and a pretty face, there was something about Lydia especially. He closed the browser and cleaned the history, just in case his dad decided to check it for some reason though he hadn’t done it for a long time nor would that conversation be something that would change the way his father felt about him anyway. Hopefully…

He heard the door open and close and waited, turning towards the door just as Scott walked in and stared at him, that judgey look that he likes so much, Stiles thought with a roll of his eyes. “What the hell happened back there man?”

Stiles threw his hands up in defeat and flopping down, head in hands on his lap, “I have no idea.”

“You kissed Derek Hale!”

“I know! I was there, it was actually my lips on his!” At this Stiles pressed his fingers to his lips again, super confused at the warmth billowing up from his gut.

“And?” Scott asked, gesturing widely.

Stiles sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, “I’m confused and I could really use my friend right now.”

Scott glared at him and Stiles sighed, “You were there a while, did you clean up at Deaton’s office?” at the comical sight of Scott’s eyes widening and his dramatic gasp told Stiles that he clearly didn’t. Undoubtedly Scott would head back over and clean up and Stiles stood and smiled, “I can help?”

His best friend smiled and nodded, “Will you drive? I left mom’s car at home with her.”

Stiles nodded and they headed out, silent for a little while.

“Derek took me to see his uncle, Peter Hale, he barely survived the fire and he is scarred and catatonic because of what happened. He’s a werewolf and he almost died and the rest of them did. Allison isn’t like that though.”

“But her dad shot you before he even knew what you were, you were shot and considered guilty because you were in the woods with Derek and you’re a kid! You think she can’t turn out that way with all of them like that? You have to learn to protect yourself against them.”

“He’ll never understand what it’s like with her,” Scott said as they arrived to the clinic and walked inside. Stiles immediately started grabbing the cleaning materials as he thought about what Scott said and figured that Derek’s story wasn’t his to tell and it wouldn’t matter anyway, Scott was still acting out in stubborn denial of reality or at least a reality in which Derek is here to help instead of here to hurt him.

“Does it really matter? He wants to help you; he wants to teach you not to kill people and the Alpha wants you to kill people. How is this even still a confusing topic right now? Maybe it’s time we gave the guy a break, his family died and hunters were at fault for it and they are the only ones in town. Do you think that’s a coincidence?”

“No I don’t and I told him I needed to learn to protect myself and so should you.”

Stiles nodded, glad to hear they were all getting a little closer to the same page, “I know. I’m glad that you are willing to learn, this isn’t about Allison and her family. This isn’t about not losing her, this about not getting yourself killed for her or her family.”

“So I choose; my life or my relationship?” Scott asked as he continued to clean.

“If you die, it’s just going to hurt us all, if you kill because of the Alpha then the Scott McCall that I have known my whole life will well and truly be gone. I don’t think I can handle that Scott, so I need you to fight for yourself, not just for your first crush.”

Scott stopped, staring at Stiles in horror, “Its more than a crush asshole!”

“And this is your life, now knock it off and help me clean this mess up so I can go home and figure out the fuck I just did to my friendship with Derek.”

They moved in silence for a little while before Scott spoke again, “You like him.”

Stiles shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“No Stiles,” Scott said and pulled Stiles to a stop and made him look over at his best friend. “You have been giving this friendship so much of you for weeks now, his existence in your life, in our lives, means a lot to you and I think you need to at least be willing to open up that can of worms and take it fishing.”

“Fishing metaphor,” Stiles asked his friend with a grin, “Really?”

“All for you man,” Scott said and slapped Stiles’ shoulder.

“You know the real problem with all of this is?” Stiles asked, his voice losing strength as he thought this thought for the first time, in conjunction with the idea that he kissed Derek and maybe he didn’t know as much about himself as he originally thought, “It wouldn’t matter if he liked me back, he’s been so hurt and maybe I can be his friend but even if at the end of all my soul searching, I discovered that I felt too much for him it would only mean that I have a type: emotionally unavailable people. Lydia would never give me the time of day for her own reasons and Derek, he’s never going to trust me. Not really and maybe he shouldn’t.”

Scott sighed, “Well that sounds like something that’s going to require some time and possibly Mac and Cheese or maybe Tomato soup and grilled cheese.”

Stiles chuckled wetly, years of childhood together had them using a lot of the same comfort foods when they had tough stuff to talk about, they would make tomato soup and grilled cheese, or Mac and Cheese with sausage while they binge watched a TV show or played video games together. He nodded because this seriously was one of those conversations, a time when he needed his best friend more than ever, hoping his best friend was still in there. That’s all he wanted.

“Let’s go home and table this talk for tonight.”

“Did you already finish the homework for tomorrow? I got notes and everything from your teachers though except for Harris who’s just an asshole said that you could afford to miss a couple of classes because there are a few people trying to figure out how to stop you from blowing the curve even when you’re out for the day.”

Stiles fist pumped, “Yes! I love that Harris can’t even be bothered to try to screw me over, and Chemistry is not my greatest subject! I love being a smart kid, the sarcastic one and a weird one all at the same time. I just don’t fit into anyone’s molds.”

“I know how you love that, let’s get out of here.”

They finished mopping the floor and cleaning up the garbage, then walked back out to the jeep and locked up behind them. Everything would be just as they found it, though Deaton would know they were there, Stiles wondered if he should tell Scott about the fact that Deaton knew about the supernatural but he wanted to speak to the man before he did so. There was probably a reason and Deaton had always been fortune cookie kind of vague with people, so for now he would just go home and climb into bed and stop worrying about everything if he could.

He wanted to text Derek but knew that he had no right, there was nothing he could do at this point to show Derek that he would never do what Kate had done, he wouldn’t take advantage of Derek. For now, silence was the better part of valor and Stiles would just have to learn how to be silent.

And that was going to suck.


	7. Your Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott leaves Stiles behind to pick up the pieces, he doesn't know what to do about Derek except leave him alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone liked the first oops kiss!
> 
> Thank you to everyone to the HITS, the Kudos and Comments, they feed the muse on this one.

Stiles stared down at his phone screen, hands shaking just a little. He wanted to blame the lack of Adderall for the shakes but he knew that was only part of it. He couldn’t help the thought that he screwed up and only a couple of hours after Derek trusted him with one of his deep dark secrets. He had nobody to blame but himself and now, his dad was home and there to notice and he was almost out of pills and the sheriff was going to pick up his prescription tomorrow but he also expected that the thirty little pills were going to last a lot longer this time and Stiles wasn’t dealing well at all.

And now he was getting a returned message on his texts to Derek, the call went straight to a voicemail that wasn’t set up and that was that. Derek had ‘spoken’ and Stiles made the mistake that caused the werewolf to pull back and stop talking to him.

It was obvious that Derek had moved on to another burner phone and had no intention of giving Stiles the phone number. He took a deep breath, trying to contain the well of sadness that he’d fucked up his chance to show Derek that he could have a friend again, that he could have a pack and they would protect him as much as he seemed so desperate to do for them. All because he’d been so relieved that he’d done something stupid and short sighted, impulse control wasn’t really on his radar and the sudden decrease in Adderall made it worse either way.

There was only a week until the full moon and Stiles at least had the comfort of knowing that Scott was speaking to Derek and training with him even. He knew they were training because Scott like to text and complain about the bumps and bruises that Derek had a tendency to leave behind. Stiles just listened and commiserated when the bro code demanded it. In the meantime during the daylight hours, he’d spent the last couple of days sitting at lunch with Scott, Allison, Lydia, Jackson and Danny. Ever since the kiss he couldn’t help but watch Danny and wonder if he was like the guy. Even if he did have that one thing in common with the guy there was very little else he had in common with the Abercrombie and Fitch model, who was an amazing lacrosse player (not a bench-warmer), he had tons of friends (Stiles had Scott, not even Derek now) and he was gay. People loved Danny but it wasn’t because he was special or the fact that he was Jackson’s best friend. People loved Danny because he was funny and charismatic, he dressed well and was athletic and he cared for people no matter who they were. He didn’t befriend all of them because Jackson was an asshat who liked to have access to his best friend most of the time but there were times when Danny wasn’t with his brother from another mother and he was kind of everyone, just dismissive of Stiles sometimes even now because of the weird feud that was still living strong between Scott and Stiles with Jackson.

It was hard to know that he would never really be like Danny and he didn’t have any reason to help Stiles if they did have that one thing in common. He wasn’t coordinated or graceful, he was never going to be more than a bench-warmer but maybe, just maybe he could learn a little something about attracting someone even if that person wasn’t the one he was even thinking about. Maybe that would start with what he was wearing though that was as much Lydia’s arena as it was Danny or Jackson’s.

So maybe asking Lydia for clothing ideas might be more of a chance than a joke that he was making with Scott a couple weeks ago though he didn’t know how to have a conversation with her when she was always with Jackson and Allison and he didn’t really want anyone but Scott know about his sexual curiosity and confusion even if no one knew who was the reason. So what would he even say to her?

During the time he’d been spending with Derek, he’d used the time to look into different things about sexual identity and there were so many more labels than he could have ever believed. It wasn’t just heterosexual or homosexual though he’d read about those obviously but there was also: bisexual, pansexual, asexual and demisexual. There were stereotyping as well as truth from those who lived that way available on the internet. He wondered if he was too young to start wondering about all of these things but he was too anxious about not looking into it.

Thankfully he’d been around enough websites in his time to easily find the sites and chatrooms that would help him at least find accurate information as well as some people to talk with. Stiles spent some time just asking questions then he just talked to people, sharing with a few people what he’d been feeling without all the werewolf stuff. He was trying to figure out what he was feeling and if it was just about Derek or if he was open and willing to start kissing other boys, you know plus other things someday. Hence the Danny ‘intense watching’ because stalking was such an ugly word. Though it reminded him of the early days of Scott and Allison when he’d been using his werewolf senses to get a leg up in the dating world. Stiles didn’t have any desire to molest or even make out with Danny right now though the guy was aesthetically pleasing as well as nice. Nope, this was about learning.

He had a running encyclopedia on one word document about what he learned and which questions he’d gotten answers for, not to mention the pending ones. He was determined to learn as much about himself as he could just from reading though he was more than a little aware of the fact that he was going to actually have to take some action at some point to see what turned him on. Besides the fact that he was a teenage boy so there were a lot of times when he was just turned on for no other reason than he was alive but in the midst of his pornography education, he’d never really looked into anything other than some vanilla sex between a man and a woman so all of this… didn’t make any sense. All those times with the porn on the screen hadn’t ever really been more than a mechanical release of semen and tension so it was hard to tell what was working and what didn’t for him. So real life learning was just going to have to come next (haha get it) he thought with a little snort of amusement at his mental pun.

The sad part was that he didn’t think he was going to luck into real sex anytime soon so he was stuck with only empirical evidence to help him.

Today though he decided to take the plunge, Stiles leaned over towards Lydia and asked her while Jackson and Danny were enthusiastically talking about some lacrosse game that they weren’t actually in. He figured this was the best chance he was going to get, “When you look at me, do you see anything that you might like?” And wondered when the hell he got ballsy enough to ask _the Lydia Martin_ something like that.

She turned and stared at him in shock, saying nothing though she immediately flipped her hair and he figured she was going to turn away and that would be the end of it. Then she was staring at him with a scrutiny that he didn’t actually like, it was two parts curious and one part honest and scathing intent. “Well you are clearly smart enough to ask me about this. So, there’s that, I know how smart you are Stiles but the problem is that you hide the good attributes under loud sarcasm and idiocy, not to mention these ridiculous t-shirts and strange color combinations. You have amazing eyes, the color is intriguing and even I wouldn’t mind looking into them every once in a while just to see how many shades of brown and green I can find. Though you do have a mouth that won’t quit which is honestly where you lose a lot of interest.”

Stiles sighed, “Well there’s no fixing that,” then he frowned and said, “Interest? What interest?”

She ignored him, pursing her lips and rubbing her chin in intense concentration. “But the wardrobe, maybe we could do something about that. I think we would have to try a couple of different options to see what would work best for the lanky figure,” Lydia responded as a nicely manicured finger pointed at him up and down. Stiles stared at her in surprise because honestly he hadn’t had the guts to ask her for the help and now she was offering.

“Are you serious?” Stiles asked, mouth still open and gaping like a fish.

“If you are willing to answer one question?” she pointed one haughty finger at him.

“Depends,” Stiles responded quickly, “Are you going to go directly to any of your equally vapid friends and tell them about whatever I tell you in confidence?”

She frowned, hand held to chest in shock, “Is that what you think of me?” She sounds hurt and confused, Stiles didn’t know how to answer except with the truth especially since he’s unrealistic crush on her seemd to have been well and truly smashed in the reintroduction of Derek Hale to Beacon Hills.

“Yes, Lydia that’s what I think of you. And you know what else I think?”

She glared at him and gestured for him to continue, her arms crossing over her chest while he spoke. “What is that?”

He knew she was certain he was about to assassinate her character and she said yes anyway. Maybe there was hope for her yet. He answered quietly so only she could here, though Scott might be able to hear if he had enough control to listen over the sound of the teens in the cafeteria, “I think you are one of the most intelligent people I know, and it’s not something you want Jackson to know for some idiotic reason that I can’t figure out. I hope that you can either stop hiding it from him or you just leave him because you shouldn’t have to pretend with someone who supposedly loves you. And besides, your beauty is not the best thing about you. I don’t understand how someone as independent as you would let your boyfriend decide what you should be but it’s not my life. Whether or not you are intelligent shouldn’t threaten him but while it does should I maybe share some of those ‘A’ papers with him? Or maybe even the awards that you’ve won? I know you are looking at some pretty Ivy League schools as well, which means you won’t be with him anyway.”

“Okay,” she squeaked, her eyes glancing over to Jackson who was still arguing with Danny who was eyeing Lydia and Stiles cautiously, “I won’t tell anyone! Maybe Allison though, she sometimes has a good eye for clothes or overall suggestions.”

“That’s fine, what was the question then?”

“Is this about me?” she asked genuinely, her eyes were soft as they stared at each other leaving Stiles confused because she’d never given him the time of day but the thought of him changing for her was clearly feeding her ridiculous ego.

He sighed, an airy little chuckle came out, “No, actually it’s not otherwise I would have done it ages ago and maybe I don’t need to change at all but I thought maybe the trappings might be okay to change, I’m not going to change me.” He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the shiver through his body, God he needed some more Adderall! “I am questioning some things about myself and there is someone and I don’t think I will ever have him but maybe if I learned a little more about how to dress then maybe I would know I was doing everything I could to have a chance with someone else. Someday. Maybe with your or Danny’s help I could learn what I need to know about me even if nothing ever happens.”

Lydia’s face softened even more though he had no idea what part of his answer was thawing her cold heart and she grabbed his phone out of his hand where he was fiddling with it like usual, programmed her and Danny’s number into the memory then handed it back, “I will text you, sometime when Jackson is otherwise engaged, we can chat about this mystery man that you can’t have apparently and what you would like to do differently. Maybe it would be nice to have a gay best friend,” she tutted, “I mean Jackson has one.”

Stiles’ eyes widened when he belated realized that he’d said ‘him’ then nodded and went back to his lunch mostly because he didn’t think arguing was going to do him any good, pressing his hand to his leg under the desk until it stopped shaking. After a moment, he caught his best friend staring and just nodded, leaving everything else to the noise of the cafeteria. Lydia went back to the simple-minded pretty girl that Jackson knew her to be and that was the end of it. He would just have to wait and see what happened next with her.

In the private place of his racing mind he accepted some of the things he was feeling and ignored the confusing questions that the feelings _didn’t answer_. The most important one had to be that Stiles missed texting Derek, spending time in the warehouse and making Derek grumble because he just didn’t know how to laugh right now but he’d been getting pretty close to some smiles before the teenager fucked all that up with the kiss. Stiles thought about that while they were heading to their last class; because sure, Derek Hale was a good-looking man with cheekbones and stubble that would make any modeling company drool, looked amazing without a shirt and in the leather jacket but those weren’t the real reasons that Stiles missed him mostly because he’d never even thought about the sexual attraction possibilities of men before that kiss and now it was like he couldn’t think of anything else.

He missed Derek because he was an old soul, someone who understood loss and pain. And yet it hadn’t turned the werewolf into a mean person, he was still here despite Scott and Stiles’s behavior. He was still trying to save Scott even though the new werewolf had tried to have him arrested for murder. He’d been taken advantage of when he was too young and hurt to do anything about it and Stiles had kissed him.

Stiles didn’t know many people who could have gone through what Derek did and retain that light. That took strength that a lot of people didn’t have. Stiles didn’t even think he was that good. He grumbled instead of laughed, he griped instead of agreeing even though more often than not, Derek was pleased with the things he said he didn’t want but it was more than Stiles had ever expected to see from the werewolf in such a short time. The fact that he didn’t smile or laugh was sad but it didn’t make him worthless or hard inside. He was something special and Stiles wanted to keep knowing him.  

He was intrigued by who Derek was under the pain, there was so much he didn’t hope to know about him after so little time but one thing he definitely knew was that Derek loved his family and had been willing to run into a burning house to save them even when it was futile. Stiles would have bet every dollar he had that Derek had once been full of life and love for those around him. Stiles wished his dad hadn’t separated Stiles from the Hale family, they could have been friends all this time, but then again what would Scott have been to him? And his dad had done everything he could at the time to protect his child and Stiles couldn’t be angry with him for that. He may have grown up thinking of Derek as an older brother, his mother as Stiles’s adopted mom and that would make things weird now but it would have still been pack and right now, with or without the romance or attraction; he just wanted to be a part of that. Stiles just sighed sadly because he figured that ship had sailed and hit a reef along the way so he would just have to learn to live with it. God, he was going to miss being a part of something bigger. Feeling stupid about the mistakes he’d made to get himself here, in the center of a sea of annoying people, very few of them really mattering, Stiles went about his day. He watched as Scott left for work and Derek’s, leaving in the jeep and heading home for a little while before he was going to meet his dad for dinner. The dinner at the station was one of many stipulations the sheriff had made as the terms of Stiles’s release so he had to do it.

When he got home, he logged onto a couple of chatrooms for the LGBT community and looked over some of the conversation threads. He desperately wanted to find something conclusive for himself, the questions were pretty normal but none of each he needed to know about. He let his mouse hover over the New Thread button, he hadn’t actually posted anything just commenting on other posts up till now and they were mostly to clarify the information he’d been looking for but this was important so he clicked and started typing, backspacing more than once until he had the post looking the way he wanted it to.

It read:

 

**‘I am confused and concerned about something I have been feeling lately. I have been in love and lust with the same girl for a long time and then suddenly I kissed a guy and I liked it a lot. I don’t feel like I am gay, like I look at porn and other guys and it’s not the same as it is with him. I am just looking for some support and I guess…suggestions on how to proceed here?’**

Then he waited, glad that the chatroom had an app so he could get some responses on the go. His father would be waiting for him and he was going to get his dad some food. He made the call for the order and headed out, he would leave the jeep at the police station if they ended up going out.

He had no idea that dinner with his dad would be the least of his worries that night.

Stiles got the food and was standing next to his dad’s desk when the sheriff was asked to cover one of the patrols and he nodded when Stiles gave a thumbs up around the bags so they headed out. His dad went to get the car and Stiles headed to the front and he hopped into the front seat with him and grinned as they started driving. “Dad is it okay if I say that I’ve missed this. Coming with you on calls.”

The Sheriff smiled though there was a sarcastic edge to it and Stiles wondered if it was left over from their conversations early this week, “Just keep your hands off the radio and the siren and you can stick around otherwise you can sit in the back like the little common criminal you have apparently decided to be.”

Stiles gave a sloppy salute with a roll of his eyes while his father drove off, they did a quick patrol along the main street before parking in a lot to eat. Stiles stayed quiet because he didn’t know what to say anymore. He pulled out the hamburger for his dad instead and handed it over.

“What? Did they forget my curly fries?”

“You don’t get fries, especially the curly ones. Not with your cholesterol.” Stiles had a running deal with the doctor so he would send all of his dad’s information to Stiles otherwise he would just finagle it out of the nurses or receptionists anyway. After losing his mom, he just couldn’t handle the idea of losing his dad over something as stupid as a cheeseburger and curly fries.

“I have a loaded weapon, if I want the curly fries then I will have the curly fries.”

“If you imagine that getting rid of your contractions will get you curly fries, you _are_ wrong!” Stiles said and chortled just as the radio pinged. Stiles reached for the radio only to have his hand slapped away, “Sorry.”

When the call came through for the murder, Stiles immediately texted Scott with the information, knowing that Derek would get the news as well since they were training together at the moment. Stiles hated that he couldn’t be there, mostly because of Derek but also because his dad was taking the realigning of their priorities very seriously. But mostly it was Derek, because Stiles was going to keep waiting until the beta said he could come back. He’d done the right thing, he hoped but it didn’t take the sting away from not being welcome in Derek’s space anymore, a space that he’d done everything he could to make for him.

But this wasn’t about him, Stiles reminded himself. This was about giving Derek what he needed and clearly from the text message not getting through to the old number meant that what he feared had come true and Stiles wasn’t going to be welcome at the warehouse anytime soon.

Maybe it was a good thing because Scott and Derek were working together without Stiles there to keep them from fighting though Scott was still complaining about every little thing in training he was still there and Derek was still teaching. And the complaining, Stiles just soaked it up. He was happy that Scott was learning to use his abilities. Derek was still trying to teach him how to control the shift, partial and the beta form but the older werewolf was still concerned about his inability to teach Scott because he was a turned wolf instead of a born one. Derek was also teaching him to use his nose, his eyes and his ears in ways that he hasn’t in the past. Scott had ‘accidently’ learned how to hone his senses on something but Derek was teaching him to be intentional instead. There was so many things, Scott had told Stiles that he’d been learning about what scents smelled like what. There were distinct scents that traveled with certain feelings and Stiles was keeping a running tally of whatever Scott told him after the fact and he so badly wanted to actually be there, making notes and soaking up the knowledge that Derek was willingly giving.

Instead he’d made an appointment with a studio where they taught martial arts for the next day after school and it was sheriff approved since they were hurt by the lacrosse players and his dad wanted him to be able to protect himself. It was pretty close and he was driving over after his last class if nothing else comes up. With the newest murder that might change but then since he was just the wayward best friend again instead of a pack-mate there was very little reason to believe he was going to miss the appointment. Sadly, with Scott being supernatural and Stiles had no intention of walking away from his best friend so he would be in the thick of it so self-defense was just the next step in the process. Martial arts were going to just be the first part of the training that would be necessary to survive this new world and he couldn’t go back to the way it was before, he figured he was going to have to learn from the best how to survive the supernatural but he had no way of knowing how he was going to get into Hunter Academy when his best friend was a werewolf.

When they arrived at the video store, the apparent crime scene, Stiles got out and looked around then looked up and found Scott leaning over the edge and Derek’s head was barely visible just over Scott’s shoulder. He didn’t want anyone to know they were up there so he refocused on the action in front of him. Jackson was berating his dad while Lydia was sitting and shaking a little on the back of the ambulance. The lacrosse captain was being checked over by the EMT but they weren’t being very thorough since Jackson was shouting and pushing them away. Stiles noticed the spattering of blood that his leather jacket was mostly hiding and the teenager groaned, wondering if it had happened again. He exclaimed when the body came out and then his dad was over and talking to Lydia who wasn’t moving anymore.  Stiles walked over to Jackson and hugged him like his long lost best friend was he reached down and pressed his hand lightly inside the jacket, coming out bloody. The jock froze in confusion so Stiles took advantage of their proximity and jerked up his t-shirt and saw the wound and glared at Jackson, “You’re hurt!”

Jackson pushed Stiles away and glared at him, “What the hell Stilinski!”

“Was it really a mountain lion?” Stiles whispered to him as he dragged the lacrosse captain around the side of the ambulance for some privacy though it wouldn’t last long.

“Of course it was, don’t be ridiculous!”

“Jackson, if you think it was something else, you need to tell me now, or I am going to tell them that you are hurt and bleeding! I don’t understand the need to hide it if it was just a mountain lion. Now what did you see?” Stiles whispered, keeping a grip on Jackson’s wrist though he knew the guy would have no problem breaking his grip when he wanted to. Stiles focused on the guy’s face, trying to figure out what he was feeling or thinking but he was just looking belligerent so Stiles dragged him back and tapped the EMT on the shoulder, declaring “Something bit him and he might have rabies.”

“Fuck!” Jackson exclaimed, shoving Stiles away from him but it was too late. Stiles watched as Jackson was carted away and figured if he didn’t have a wound tomorrow, then they would know if the alpha had picked another beta for his pack to boss around.

His dad was glaring at him, motioning back to the sheriff’s cruiser. Stiles pointed off towards town, “I’m just gonna walk Dad, you have to follow and get statements.”

“Try and stay out of trouble Stiles,” his dad said with a nod and sigh.

Stiles nodded, “I will Dad. Try that is,” he winked but the sheriff just groaned and walked away. When his dad was safely driving away from the scene, Stiles walked around the side of the building and watched as Derek and Scott scaled down the side of the building. There was no way they didn’t hear about Jackson, though with the Alpha killing someone else they may believe that Jackson turning or not isn’t a priority right now.

Derek looked at him then to Scott, nodded to Stiles and opened his mouth though nothing came out. Stiles decided to put them both out of their awkward misery, “Did you hear what happened with Jackson?”

Scott nodded and Derek crossed his arms over his chest before speaking, “It makes sense that the alpha would need more than one beta, he can’t be alone. You two are going to have to bring him into the fold, support him through this. It’s going to be a rough couple of days before the full moon.”

Scott and Stiles shared a groan, of course Jackson Whittmore would be the next werewolf-in-training. Though it was clearly not meant to pick on Scott, bring Jackson into the brotherhood wouldn’t have brought Scott closer. But it did feel like a cruel trick that when a werewolf came to town, somehow it would all come down to that they would have to befriend one of their least favorite people in the world to survive.

“Are we going to have to go through the whole convincing thing from the beginning again?” he asked them.

“Probably,” Scott said with a weary snort.

“At least we know more than we did a month ago, we have each other and he won’t be alone. I can’t help but want him to be alone.”

“I wasn’t alone either,” Scott whispered and looked at Stiles with a shrug, “I had you.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, flushing a little because honestly Scott had rarely said thank you for all the stuff he’d done since he’d been turned.

Derek nodded, “You don’t have to do anything Stiles, you’re not a werewolf. Scott and I can make the determination and start to train him.”

Stiles stared at him, mouth hanging open in shock and Derek looked down and away like he didn’t know what to say or feel about it either. Stiles shifted his gaze over to Scott and wondered if that’s what his best friend thought too. He wasn’t a werewolf so he didn’t need to be a part of this. He looked at Derek, watched as his nose wrinkled but he didn’t say anything, neither did Scott. It left Stiles feeling unmoored so he just moved on, they didn’t know if Jackson was a werewolf anyway. He wondered what Derek was thinking about all this, he’d gone from being just with his sister with no responsibility besides living for himself and now he was in the middle of a ridiculous episode of teens turn wolf, something he never signed up for and apparently, he’d figured out that he didn’t sign up for Stiles and he wasn’t responsible for the spastic teen, not after what Stiles did at the clinic.

“Derek, are you still safe in the warehouse?” he asked instead, shoving his hands in his sweater pockets and tried not to sink into the stupid train of thought that led with ‘hug Derek, comfort him’ and continued all the way to some magical alternate universe where Derek liked him too and could stand to be with him or at least was okay with him being a part of his pack. He thought about it, curled up next to Derek on the couch just talking about interesting things because one of the things he’d learned from his time in the warehouse was that Derek didn’t really mind when Stiles nattered on about stupid things and he missed that just as much. He sighed and started to turn away when Derek finally spoke, which reminded Stiles that he’d spoken. What had he said again?

“No one has found me there; the hunters are still wandering around the Hale property and Preserve. They haven’t figured it out yet where I am. Thank you again. It’s a good home base.”

Stiles nodded, pleased with the positive response at least, then turned to Scott, “Text me later?”

His friend nodded then they turned and walked away, leaving the scene. He walked back out to the front of the video store and headed back towards town, edging out towards the Preserve only to catch sight of the small lights in the distance and headed out towards them instead of back to his house mostly because he could since his dad wasn’t here to keep him from doing it. This reminded him of the first night he was out here and Scott was bit. He should go home, there was nothing but trouble in those woods. Then again, maybe trouble was what he needed he thought as he continued walking, what if the Alpha was there? What if he bit Stiles? What if Stiles didn’t care? What if that’s what he wanted? Maybe he wanted it more than being ordinary, maybe if he was turned then Derek would have time for him and he wouldn’t be so breakable, he could be a part of the pack.

So, he ran towards the lights and deeper into the woods away from main street and this side of town. He knew that the Preserve ranged around the town and they were closer to the Hale house but not heading towards it. Stiles desperately wanted to find something that would give him a reason to be welcome again in Derek’s presence even if it was only as a friend and an ally, an informant. He didn’t think he could stay the weak human in this world.

One bite, that’s all it would take.

There in the darkness was a black form and a slight red shimmer as it turned away from the lights in the distance. It was near the Hale house; they were just camping out there. Stiles wondered if they were searching at all but then again it didn’t matter. He wasn’t out here to help them; he was out here to help Derek and Scott—and himself. He didn’t need to care about them but the dark form, if he knew about the alpha if that’s what it was, then he would have something else to help Scott and Derek with. Maybe then Stiles would be good enough again and the kiss would just fade into the past.

The form moved too quickly for Stiles to keep up but it was heading back towards town, a different part than Stiles had come from. In the light of town there was nothing, no alpha to be seen but this part of town was the hospital and a few businesses and he couldn’t imagine a big alpha werewolf or a naked man wouldn’t have caused a stir but there wasn’t much else the alpha could do from here. He headed for the hospital and the nurse’s station where Melissa was working, the woman was always here. It’s probably a good thing that she was in the know, if Jackson was here maybe she would be able to play intermediary especially since Jackson was being cared for by the hospital unlike Scott who had just cleaned it himself after being bitten. Check off for another stupid decision on Stiles’s part, he should have never made a scene about Jackson’s wounds because now it would be recorded and monitored.

“Hey Mrs. McCall!” Stiles exclaimed happily and she sighed, Stiles kept smiling despite the less than stellar response, it wasn’t new anyway. She honestly believed that her son was a troublemaker because of Stiles and she wasn’t wrong—mostly. He hadn’t seen much of her since the big reveal though he’d been in and out of her house many times, with or without her knowledge. She may know what was going on but she still didn’t seem like she wanted to know any more about it beyond Scott is a werewolf and he’s not a monster.

“Can I help you Stiles? You really shouldn’t be out this late, were you with your father?”

“Yeah, another body was found over at the video rental place. Have you had any weird happenings or sightings around the area?”

Melissa frowned, her eyes widening as she looked around and tried to make sure that no one was listening to them, “Like what Stiles?”

“Animal sightings or people wandering around without clothes on? There isn’t much around here and I thought I saw something come in this direction,” he leaned in really close, “Did Scott tell you about the Alpha?”

She nodded, “A little.”

“To be fair, we only know a little,” Stiles whispered back, shrugging as if that was the answer though he didn’t know what he was making excuses for, she wasn’t his mom and whatever Scott decided to tell her was up to him. “So he’s a big hulking wolf monster and I think I followed him in this direction. Have you heard or seen anything?”

“I don’t know Stiles; you could check the long-term care unit. It’s a much smaller facility that’s attached to the side of the hospital and it has access from the woods, maybe that’s where the thing went. Hopefully not to harm any of the residents because they aren’t at all a threat to anyone. Its quite possible though that you are just seeing things, I know what you’re like this time of year. How much Adderall have you taken today?”

“Not much because my dad is watching my dose,” Stiles said with a shrug then frowned at her, “You wouldn’t have any samples would you? Just enough to help me with the transition? I have been shaky the last couple of days.”

She shook her head and he shrugged, it was worth trying anyway.

“Also there is a chance that someone like Scott might be coming in tonight, for care of a bite. Jackson Whittmore.”

Melissa’s eyes widened at that, “The DA’s kid?”

He nodded, “That’s the one, he got bit by a ‘mountain lion’ so he might need a cover story at his checkup.”

Melissa nodded, “I’ll keep an eye out for him but I’m not good at the whole cover story thing. You got any ideas?”

“Call me if you need help. Thanks Mrs. McCall,” he paused, “You know when the first body was found, almost a month ago?”

Melissa made some notations on the chart she was using and nodded, “Of course.”

“Was there anyone at the time that came in with wounds, bite marks or anything?”

“No, not that I remember. Are you looking for others, like Scott?”

“Yes. The alpha, we need to find it, maybe we’ll get lucky enough that he or she came in,” he answered, surprised that he hadn’t at least considered it before.

She nodded, “I’ll check the logs and some of the video surveillance, check out the other facility and see what there is to know. And Stiles?” He was about to turn away when she asked so he paused, “Stay safe okay?”

Stiles nodded and looked at her, wishing his mother was here to say that, she would’ve believed him about the werewolves, she knew about the Hale family. She wouldn’t have told him he was too weak to be a part of the pack. He wished she was still here because if she was, then he and Derek could have been something real. He would have known all this a long time ago. Now he felt like Derek’s loss was his loss, Derek’s family could have been his because his mother was important to Derek’s mother and none of that would happen now. Now he couldn’t even play catch up with Derek unless he figured something out. He took in a deep fortifying breath and walked out the door determined he was going to find the Alpha and prove to them both that he could be a part of the pack.

He walked back around the building and frowned when he saw the building for long term care. It was more like one hallway with one or two nurses and a couple of people there being cared for but then again this was Beacon Hills and a lot of people left when they needed better or long term care. He looked around then walked up to look at the visitor log just for kicks, lifting the pen like he was going to sign in when he saw one of the names several lines up ‘Derek Hale’ and looked around in surprise like the beta was going to pop out from a room and yell ‘boo’.

Derek had told Scott about his Uncle Peter, that he’d been burned horribly but he’d survived and maybe he was here and that was too much of a coincidence for Stiles to ignore. He walked down the hall like he owned the joint, the nurse on duty didn’t bother him and he stopped by the first door and read the name then moved on to the second and the third where he finally saw ‘Peter Hale’ and he walked around to see into the room were a nurse with red hair was turning the man’s wheelchair towards the door and Stiles caught sight of the burns and the missing hair and winced. It was Derek’s uncle; this was the only other survivor from the fire and he was alive. He was catatonic, or at least he appeared to be catatonic but he was a werewolf and this was a damn good cover if Stiles ever saw one. He was literally the only other werewolf in town and he might have a damn good reason to be killing people, whether it had anything to do with insanity or vengeance.

He backed away slowly and walked up to the empty nurses stand, wondering if this was going to go well for him or not but he was going to try. No one was there, he sighed thankfully as he skirted around the table and headed straight for the computer, accessing the records and found Peter Hale who’d been here for the past 6 years, he’d moved from the main hospital about 9 months after the fire. Stiles emailed the information to himself then quickly deleted the sent message, trying to get rid of as much of his technological finger prints as he could. Someone might be able to figure out what he did but at least he had an email address that wasn’t signed up to his name because of his illicit activities with college paper writing. He headed out the door before anyone could see what he’d been up to and headed home.

Maybe this is what they were looking for but he doubted that Derek finding out that the only family member to survive the fire was possibly at fault for all the death, maybe even Laura’s death was going to endear the werewolf to him. But then again, he figured this was one of those times when the information was better than nothing, that knowledge was more important than feelings if it kept them all alive. They needed to know what happened to Laura, Derek needed closure and Stiles needed to know that the two werewolves were going to survive this miserable series of unfortunate events.

He climbed into bed when he got home, texted his dad to say he was okay and he was going to sleep. He tried not to let his mind wander to the things he knew. Keeping it away from the things he suspected. He knew that Jackson was probably going to be turned, Lydia was getting closer to coming into the fold of knowing just because she’d been there and she wasn’t stupid. He also really needed to look over the notes from Peter Hale’s file but he was exhausted and the Adderall was wearing thin ad he just needed to sleep. Coming down off of the meds had always been less than ideal. He still had to stay ahead of the game at school and keep trying to find something, sleep was necessary tonight at least. Tomorrow he could stay awake if he needed to.

 

Derek and Scott watched as Stiles walked away and Derek sighed because he couldn’t help but think that what he’d said to Stiles was unnecessary and mean. He didn’t want Stiles to get hurt, but he was scared and so open mouth and insert foot.

“Scott you know as well as I do, especially after the bus driver that the Alpha needs you and wants you. These murders are escalating and he’s getting antsy enough to turn another, that’s going to complicate things in ways neither of us are ready for. He’s going to come for you and you aren’t ready for that. You aren’t ready for a pack-mate, especially one that you already dislike and who dislikes you immensely. You need to keep working on control and power, you need to keep searching for the Alpha instead of waiting. It’s time to really open up your senses and the connection you carry with him.”

“It’s not like I understand the connection, there is nothing there for me to grab hold of! I don’t have it like you do! It’s not something I can easily learn and use.”

“Learn!” Derek shouted, growling and wishing he could snap his jaws at the teenager, “You have to learn!”

“I need to study! You know, so I can actually pass my classes!”

Derek rolled his eyes, “You want to study? You know what’s going to get in the way of that? If you’re dead!”

Scott threw up his hands in annoyance, “Come on Derek!”

“No! Don’t be an idiot about this. Don’t be an idiot like you always love to be! Now work on your senses! What could you scent off of Stiles when he was here earlier?” Derek asked because this conversation wasn’t going to be helpful, it wasn’t now and this line of conversation was just going to keep getting ridiculous. Plus, he wondered if what he’d scented was really what was there. They both walked back towards the Camaro. He would drop Scott off at home and then head out to the warehouse for some sleep, they had more training set for the next day and Scott was improving but not quickly enough for Derek’s liking, not quickly enough to see them surviving this especially if the alpha was upping his chances with another beta. He was going to have to up the training otherwise Scott wasn’t going to get through the next full moon.

Scott paused and closed his eyes, taking a moment to remember back to a few minutes before when Stiles had been standing next to the building with them, Derek couldn’t seem to think of anything else. “Sorrow, shame and fear?”

Derek nodded because that’s what he smelled with an underlying bit of something that he wasn’t going to discuss with Scott, something private and new. He’d learned a lot about Stiles’ scent while they’d been working on the warehouse, he always smelled anxious but there were times that it was worse off than others. He also knew what sorrow smelled like, had smelled it on Laura for the last couple years, lessening a little a time but always there. The sorrow that Stiles had was old and musty, the pain he felt without his mother was an old hurt but the sorrow that Scott had smelled, that Derek knew was there as well was strong and it was a slightly different kind of sorrow, especially matched with shame. Stiles missed Derek and he was ashamed of what he’d done and it was a kind of shame that was toxic and would destroy him a little at a time. Derek knew that Stiles was sad without him and the teenager believed that he was at fault for them not working together anymore and that maybe they never would.

Derek wished he could brave the confrontation it would take to relieve some of that shame. He wished he was brave enough to accept the scent of desire, not a romantic sexual desire but one made of up wanting so desperately to be a part of something, it was slightly different and Derek only knew what was from years ago and watching someone come into the Pack for the first time, something that rarely happened in the Hale Pack but had.

“Fear?” Scott asked, “Stiles doesn’t do fear. This is bad, you need to scrape up whatever the hell you need to say or do about this because he’s supposed to be your Pack. You told me that, you said you didn’t want to see him get hurt. That’s not going to go well if you can’t get your shit together and talk to him!”

Derek kept walking because Scott’s puppy dog routine was harder to deal with sometimes than he could handle, to be fair Stiles has warned him about that. He didn’t want to accept the fact that he’d been letting the sarcastic little kid under his skin to the point that he didn’t think he could get him back out again and he didn’t know if he wanted to anyway.

“What do you think of him?” Scott asked suddenly, pulling Derek to a stop.

“Stiles?” Derek questioned, though he knew he was being obtuse.

“Yes, don’t be an asshole. You cared about him, enough to stay with him when he got hurt, enough to come to us when he texted you, enough to let him in. What do you think of him?”

The beta shrugged, scrubbing a hand over his face and scratching at his stubble a little while he waited for Scott to forget he’d asked him anything but when the teen coughed as they settled in the Camaro he groaned and figured he wasn’t getting out of this. Scott apparently had learned a bit about stubbornness from Stiles, “I think he’s too smart for his own good, ridiculous and ungraceful and possibly a walking disaster but a good person, he’s someone who loves with every part of himself and you can never have too many people like that in your life. You’re lucky to have him.”

“So are you!” Scott exclaimed, using that tone that Stiles had told him about. It was the saintly tone, the one that made sense and made the other person feel idiotic for not knowing already what the ridiculously morally just teenager was saying, “You said he was pack, do you just abandon pack when they say the wrong thing or do something stupid?”

Derek fumed silently because obviously, the answer was no and wondered why the kiss was so hard to deal with for him especially after Stiles had done everything to make sure he knew he had all the space he needed to sort it out. Scott didn’t know about Kate and Stiles did, the spastic teen wouldn’t have done anything to hurt Derek and he knew that as well. Derek couldn’t help but think that Stiles had done everything he could to protect, hadn’t even told his best friend anything about Derek’s story which made everything look like it had been blown so widely out of proportion and Stiles still said nothing. So Derek did the same, he just stayed silent and drove back to Scott’s house and pointing out the door, waiting silently until Scott grunted, whispering under his breath about ‘stupid stubborn werewolves’ and slammed the door on the way out.

Derek flinched when he heard the slight screeching sound of the metal bending from the teenager’s loosed anger and figured more training was definitely in their future. He headed back to the lot near the warehouse where he was housing the Camaro for the night then headed back to his space. He dropped easily into the mattress that barely smelled like Stiles anymore and wondered if he could dare hope to trust the insolent noisy teen, the one who had actually done something to invite Derek into this place and a possible new pack. He knew that Scott was mostly an idiot, a happy puppy that liked to throw accusations and judgements around like they were candy on Halloween to a bunch of sugar-crazy kids but he also had a point. Stiles was pack and Derek was going to have to just try to see his way through the Kate-trauma that he had, maybe just enough to bring Stiles back to where he belonged which was with them. He had to hope this time would be different.

For now though, he needed to get Scott through the full moon, not to mention Jackson Whittmore and Derek was not looking forward to opening that particular can of werewolf worms with another teen.

 

Stiles realized first thing at school the next morning that Lydia wasn’t there and Jackson looked wrecked, Harris was coddling the superstar which was par for the course. To make matters worse, Scott and Allison were suspiciously absent. He had already texted him a couple of times and finally got ahold of him between first and second hour, and Scott was apparently more concerned with Allison having a good birthday and less concerned about the dead body that was found last night as well as the amazing shit-storm that was coming their way between the Ice Princess and the Lacrosse Jock. It wasn’t like Scott was so special for responding to her so amazingly sweet-like, Stiles was seventeen too because he’d been held back when his mother got sick. Just because Scott was understanding and in love, Allison was so pleased by the invitation to skip school. Once again, Scott got to be the awesome boyfriend with the great gal while Stiles was going to get to do all the heavy lifting then Scott would show up and play the hero.

He sent another text to the old phone number of Derek’s and growled when it popped back again before he headed to chemistry where he was sitting behind Danny. Harris told him to stop highlighting his chemistry book which Stiles was literally doing just to bother the teacher in the first place, since he wasn’t allowed to turn in extra assignment anymore so he leaned forward, “Danny, can I ask you a question?”

Danny rolled his eyes, Stiles couldn’t actually see Danny’s face but he knew the movement and grinned when he answered, “No.”

“Well I’m going to ask anyway,” Stiles said and the other student groaned. They might have been acquaintances for a little while now but it didn’t make them friends, “Did Lydia show up in homeroom today?”

“No,” Danny answered, clearly annoyed when Stiles kept talking to him.

“Can I ask you another?”

“Answer is still no,” Danny said with a sigh.

Stiles wasn’t deterred especially since he was just going to keep answering even if it was to get the other student to leave him alone, “Does anyone know what happened to Lydia and Jackson last night?”

Danny paused and shifted uncomfortably in his chair, still not turning towards his classmate, “He wouldn’t tell me.”

“But you’re his best friend!” Stiles exclaimed, whispering harshly but trying not to garner any extra attention from Harris. For some reason the chemistry teacher was the one that delighted in being cruel to his students and he especially loved to denigrate Stiles, who knew why.

Danny said nothing, went back to making notes and Stiles figured now was as good of a time as any, “One more question.”

“What?” Danny asked, annoyed and clearly wanting the interaction to be over.

“Do you find me attractive?” Stiles asked and Danny froze then turned around in his chair. He looked Stiles up and down, which just made the spastic teenager squirmier, and aware of his ill-fitted clothes and jacket then Danny smirked a little and leaned in closer to Stiles then he was honestly ready for. Suddenly he could smell the cologne on Danny, he could feel the heat coming off of the other boy’s body and though he was attractive, Stiles didn’t feel anything more than a slight burn of curiosity. He kept eye contact though, curious about his answer if the gay teen was willing to answer.

“Yeah maybe.”

Stiles jerked back in surprise, enough that he almost fell out of his chair and before he could even open his mind to that particular idea, that someone found him a little attractive, Harris was talking and he tried to listen to the lecture. He knew his father was going to the Parent-Teacher conference that night and though he was going to find out hopefully less of the same from last semester but honestly it hadn’t been enough time since the ultimatum for there to be much change for his teachers. He would just have to take the lumps if he needed to but getting into trouble with Harris wouldn’t help matters at all. Chemistry was the one subject that was bringing down his overall GPA slightly.

Between this interaction and the one he had with Lydia in which she agreed to help him and that there were things about him that were attractive his whole world view was shifting on his axes and he hadn’t even been changed into a werewolf for it to happen. He had no idea how to comprehend that.

He forced himself to sit through the rest of his classes and headed right over to Lydia’s house afterward, “Ms. Martin, my name is Stiles Stilinski. I came over to see how Lydia was doing since last night.”

She smiled sweetly and he realized that the girl of his feverish fantasies looked a lot like this woman in front of him. Despite the sadness or anger of her divorce, she was still the woman that had been kind to him when they were children, “Stiles, honey, I know who you are. Please come in.” It was right about then that he remembered that before Lydia Martin was crowned the Ice Queen, something beautiful and shiny but cold to the core she had been one of many who invited all of her classmates to her parties. They had known each other their whole lives. He didn’t know if that made things sadder or just normal.

She led him into the house and towards Lydia’s room, “Lydia, Stiles is here to see you.”

“What the hell is a ‘Stiles’?” Lydia asked, clearly drunk on something, her words slurring and she was wearing a skimpy nightgown, with a robe that was open and revealing. Stiles turned away quickly as Mrs. Martin walked in and helped Lydia into some more clothing and he wondered for a second if it was normal for him that he cared more about her story then her scantily clad body, who knew what was normal anymore? After a few more minutes Mrs. Martin waved him in, letting him know that she took something to calm her nerves though it seemed more likely that the strawberry blonde didn’t have any nerves at all anymore. Mrs. Martin walked out, pleased that Lydia’s robe was now closed and she was wearing pants now as well. She left the door open though he didn’t think that Lydia’s virtue was going to be at risk. At all.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, “I thought you said you liked someone else? Did you change your mind about me?” She hummed sweetly and he sighed.

“Lydia, I just wanted to see if you were doing okay after last night. I was worried about you then you weren’t at school.” Stiles responded, rolling his eyes because this was Lydia he was talking to so it made perfect sense that she would go there especially since he’d been obsessing about her for years. Stiles still saw all the amazing things about her but his desire to be close to her had little to do with a romantic inclination. And now, he cared more about the fact that there was another dead body and it’s possible that Jackson and Lydia had seen something more conclusive then they could handle and that didn’t even take into account the bite on Jackson’s side. Stiles stuck to an easy question to start. “So how are you feeling?”

“I feel,” Lydia started as she reached out and ran a hand down Stiles’ arm, smoothing his jacket and squeezing on his muscle just a little bit. “Fantastic,” she finished, getting close and trying for a seductive look though it just looked a little silly.

Stiles chuckled and saw the pill bottle on the side table and checked the label, “Yeah you’re not going to be very coherent, are you?”

Lydia chuckled and flopped back down on her pillows, arms akimbo at her sides for a second.

“Did you see something the other night?” Stiles asked after a moment.

“A mountain lion,” she said distractedly, though she got really quiet, “It was bigger, darker… Mountain lion.”

“Are you sure that’s what you saw or is that what the police say you saw?” Stiles asked and she stared at him with glassy eyes. He picked up the stuffed giraffe on her bedside table and held it out, “What’s this?”

“A mountain lion,” she responded calmly and he sighed, she wasn’t going to be of any use to him now and he wasn’t on good terms with Jackson to find out what he remembered from the night before so this was a wash.

“Well I am going to go and let you get back to your post-traumatic stress then okay?” Stiles asked as he got up from the bed while she wavered around, moving up a little to watch him with her head on her hand but about two seconds from flopping back down on the pillows again.

“Stay,” Lydia whispered and Stiles groaned, wondering why she would say that to him now.

“Why stay?” he asked as he sat back down, her hands immediately moved to his face and down his neck in a slightly drugged feel up that somehow retained a slightly flirting edge to it though even if he was interested he would never let this get much farther since she was clearly playing with a deck short of a few cards.

“Please Jackson,” she whispered and he rolled his eyes, pleased after a moment that she didn’t have the power to ruin his life anymore with one freaking word. No, one freaking name. There was nothing here for him and he was better off finding a way to move on.

“Yeah that figures,” Stiles said with a snort then her phone started jingling and he listened to it while Lydia wiped away some drool that was coming out of the side of her mouth and Stiles tried not to laugh, biting his lip to keep it in.

 “You want me to get that?” he asked and then grabbed it and tried to open the message but couldn’t but there was something on the screen and he pressed the little play button, a short video and he realized that he was looking at the alpha, red eyes and hulking figure. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at the sight, his breath coming out in a fast pant because this was the first time he’d seen it and wow it was terrifying. Stiles was considering taking a couple of Lydia’s pills too. He looked up and caught sight of the pill bottle and looked back over to Lydia, shaking it off then played the video again.

“Oh god,” he whispered and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do with this now. Lydia couldn’t keep this; it was irrefutable evidence of what Scott and Derek were plus Jackson if he survived anyway. The knowledge might be enough to help find the alpha but it would also get his best friend and Derek killed or hunted more thoroughly if it was leaked from this stupid girl’s phone. He found the way for him to email it to himself, his information was still programmed into her phone and he felt when it buzzed in his pocket then deleted the video as well as the email that he sent it in. He put the phone back down, feeling stupidly guilty for messing with her phone, felt it was an invasion of her privacy and rights, not to mention she clearly felt she was crazy for her experience, and he hated the idea of her struggling to piece reality together without proof or help. It was to bad that Stiles had to do this on his own, without Scott. For now he would have to stick to the theory of the fewer people who knew about what was happening meant fewer dangers for Scott and Derek and less people possibly getting hurt for sticking their noses into the supernatural business of Beacon Hills.

Stiles sat there and kept watching Lydia as she slept then reached out and grabbed the bottle again and took a deep breath. “Don’t do this Stiles, its not going to help!” he whispered to himself. Then he cracked open the lid and spilled a couple of the pills into his hand and shoved them into his pocket, replaced the slightly lighter bottle on the bed side table and walked out again. His shoulders hunched in guilt, for the little theft but also because he didn’t want her to find out about the phone either.

His responsibility and loyalty was with Derek and Scott, they had to be protected. With the video deleted, he left the Martin residence quietly, not speaking to Ms. Martin on the way out, calling Scott one more time as he got into the jeep, getting the voicemail again, “I found something, something that I shouldn’t have to take care of by myself and why aren’t you here right now! I am going to kill you, so turn on your phone right now because if not, I am going to find you and kill you! I can’t think of a witty way to describe how I’m going to do it but I am just going to do it.”

He hung up the phone, threw it into the passenger seat then tugged one of the little pills out of his pocket and dry swallowed it before he headed towards the warehouse instead of sitting around, he drove quickly but not enough to call attention to himself and when he got there and walked up to the door, he could hear Derek moving around in there. He pressed a hand to the closed door and wavered a little just as the effects of the pill started to work. The werewolf knew he was there already but he didn’t open the door which means that it was up to Stiles to knock on the door. He took a deep breath and did so, and the door opened quickly like he’d been standing just on the other side of the door.

“Hey, Lydia Martin had a video of the alpha. I deleted it off her phone, she’s freaking but the cops convinced her that she saw a mountain lion. And then there’s Jackson!”

Derek frowned, his head tilting in that way he had when he was scenting something he didn’t like but was working desperately not to tip him off, “They can say whatever they want, as long as they don’t have proof of the supernatural then we’ll be fine. Thank you for that.”

Stiles nodded then leaned against the doorframe because maybe he should have bit that pill in half because it was making him a little woozy, “Derek can I ask you something?”

Derek frowned and his eyes followed Stiles’s movement, “Yes.”

Stiles didn’t know what the hell he was doing here, he didn’t know what question was about to come out of his mouth and freaked, blurted out the thing furthest from what he wanted to ask, “Laura’s body had wolf hairs and bite marks on her body right? That was in the autopsy.”

“Right,” Derek whispered in a hoarse tone, his arms crossing over his chest as he attempted to close himself off from the pain from the question.

“Is it possible that the alpha got his power by killing her? That the alpha killed her then made it look like she was killed by the hunters?”

“Yes, it’s possible and it’s a possibility that is becoming more than a little apparent. I would not put that kind of murder beyond what the Argents are capable of but she was the only alpha, this is one of the reasons why I need Scott to fight against the alpha and the hunters because I knew the alpha wouldn’t be an ally. That alpha-hood belongs to me, Laura would have passed it to me when the time was right, someone stole it from her and brought me here to find her dead.”

Stiles nodded and gulped hating what was about to come out of his mouth but it appeared that the only thing the drug was doing was loosening his tongue and destroying any semblance of self-preservation he might have had. Derek didn’t deserve what was happening to him and he didn’t want say it but he had to, “Have you considered your Uncle Peter?”

Derek growled at him, literally lifted his lip and _growled_ at Stiles who took a step back, hands up in surrender. “My uncle is the only family I have left, he’s in a catatonic state, he doesn’t have the strength to do what the alpha did.”

Stiles nodded though he didn’t think Derek was thinking clearly but he’d already upset him enough and backing down was the only thing he could do right now especially since he needed to get home and look over that information, “Okay, I’m sure your right.”

Derek glared at him, “No you’re not. I know you’re lying right now!”

Stiles shrugged, upset but trying to contain it, “Well it’s not your problem unless I find some proof so I’ll just go.” He paused, “Have you been back to the Hale property? The hunters have been in and out of that area recently.”

Derek nodded, “I check it every day at some point, I know about the Argent’s presence out there, Kate is looking for me but I have been leaving the Camaro somewhere else and walking here. I’m going to be safe here.”

“You should see if you can find another place that Scott and I don’t know about, where you can hide out. If they find out about either of us, then at least you would be safe and you wouldn’t have to trust us to keep you safe and out of her hands. I need to know that’s not going to happen and I can’t be here.”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest, “I’ll take that into consideration but I trust that you would do anything to keep us both safe here.”

“No you don’t and I don’t blame you,” Stiles said, scuffing his shoe on the cement before he turned away and started away from Derek when the beta pressed a hand to Stiles’s arm. “Let go Derek.’

Derek did but he coughed and waited until Stiles turned back, “What did you take?”

Stiles frowned, “What?”

“You took something, I can smell it on you. It’s making you a little loopy. Are you going to be okay driving home?”

Stiles straightened his shoulders, “Well thanks to you and Scott I don’t have extra Adderall so I took something else, I just need a little regulation on it. Don’t worry about me, you don’t need to because I am not your Pack and I am just the weak fucking human!”

Stiles turned, ignoring the hurt and confusion on Derek’s face, feeling the buzzing in his pocket from his phone. He ignored it, getting into the jeep and driving home again glad that the little pill was evening out again and he was utterly calm. Stiles took a breath in relief, glad to leave behind all the uncomfortable and useless feelings of before. Thankfully because his grades were A’s and high B’s so he didn’t need to be at the teacher conferences. His dad wasn’t going to like some of it but he was aware because of the talk they had a week ago. Even with the paper mix ups his grades were good, and then there was the blatant choice to answer questions on tests with the wrong subject but those were always specific choices based on the previous tests and grades and sadly they were choices to keep his teachers and his dad hopping and it was something the man didn’t know about yet. Grades weren’t going to matter much after he got into college but until then, they would matter.

For now though, he didn’t have school work and he had a new mystery with a nice steadiness that he didn’t even get with his Adderall anymore. Stiles started with the fire, information garnered from the police records. Then he was moving on the information of Peter Hale’s medical files. As far as Stiles could tell from the records, there were a lot of people in the house when it happened though the most deaths were to the Hale direct family, there were others as well—families through marriage, second cousins and everything but they weren’t close and they didn’t live in the Hale den. Those people that died, there were eight who burned, including as Derek had told Scott Peter Hale’s wife. As far as Derek knew, his aunt-by-marriage was pregnant though the fetus was not accounted for with the deceased. The list of deceased included; Alexander Hale who was Talia’s father and undoubtedly the previous alpha (which answered Stiles’s question about whether or not it was possible to pass along the torch of Alpha without killing them), Talia and Aaron Hale, Derek’s parents along with Peter’s wife and child, and five of Derek’s siblings though most of the bodies had been left unaccounted for with only verbal verification that the family had all been home. Stiles didn’t think that they weren’t dead but it had to be so hard for Derek to not have closer on them.

Now Laura was dead and Peter Hale was catatonic but once upon a time, Derek had had this amazingly large family and it made perfect sense that Derek wouldn’t be willing to say goodbye to the last living Hale by entertaining the idea that Peter Hale could be at fault for Laura, not to mention the devastating betrayal of his uncle killing his sister to take her power but Stiles didn’t have that handicap of nostalgia and bitter hope. It was time to move on to the next set of paperwork.

He looked at the medical records on Peter, there were no changes for a long time physically but then subtly he started getting better on paper. It was miniscule at the beginning and then some of the notations changed so drastically back to ‘no change’ that made Stiles wonder why and there wasn’t any reasoning for it. Stiles kept looking, becoming more suspicious not just about Peter but who his accomplices might be. He thought about the staff, there were only a few nurses but he wondered why someone might doctor his lab results, why would somebody suddenly start saying that there was no change instead of perhaps getting worse instead of better. He wasn’t a doctor and all he had were suspicions and curiosity.

But it was a start.

He looked down at his phone and noticed the little notification and frowned as he opened the conversation thread to find some people had shared some of their stories. He wasn’t alone. And he didn’t know what else to think about at the moment. There were a lot of very simply ‘Just keep talking, stick arounds’ but there were a few that spoke to what he was dealing with and how the other members were finding their way to a sexual identity. They encouraged him to come back and share some more of what he learned and though Stiles had never felt so alone, trying to survive in this new world but at the same time, this one thread was going to allow him to keep reaching out and that would have to be enough for today. He made a note to read the other comments later as he grabbed his keys and walked back out to the jeep because he had an appointment with the martial arts studio. He would have to figure out what his next step was and he’d have to hear all about the epic grounding that Scott was going to get for skipping school when he was close to failing across the board. Stiles had no idea if he made it back in time for the conference but he doubted it.

This was the amazing Alison he was out with for the day.

 

Derek loitered inside the halls at the school, wondering why the hell he was even here except maybe he was feeling guilty and scared about Stiles and this was the only place he knew the sheriff was going to be. He might also be able to catch sight of the Argents and thankfully there were enough parents and students loitering as well so he wasn’t out of place especially since he was wearing dark blue jeans, a blue button up shirt with a vest. He could have passed for a teacher at the moment, instead of his normal brooding and leather jacket wearing self.

“I thought his last name has Stiles,” someone said and Derek figured that it was that loud obnoxious coach who was always shouting at the lacrosse players and ignoring Stiles all together.

The sheriff spoke, “That’s just what he likes to be called.”

“I’d like to be called cupcake. What is his first name?” the coach asked. There was a pause, “Wow that’s a form of child abuse. I can’t even pronounce that.”

Derek had wondered a little about that, Stiles’ name but he’d never been brave enough to offer questions and especially not about the teen’s name. The sheriff responded again, “It was his mother’s father’s name.”

“You must really love your wife,” Coach said and Derek winced, knowing what was coming.

“Yeah I did,” Stilinski said.

“Well this just became incredibly awkward.”

“Why don’t we get to the conference part of this conference cupcake.”

“I like the way you think,” the coach paused, “Okay Stiles, great kid very smart. He has a lot of trouble focusing, I will have weeks where we have his homework days in advance and then there are times when we don’t see anything.”

“The meds help but it’s still a process it seems,” the sheriff said.

“And he has no desire to live up to his actual ability.”

“What do you mean?” the sheriff asked.

“For example, the final question on his midterm he outlined the complete history of the male circumcision.”

Derek rolled his eyes at the thought of Stiles having that kind of information in his head, just to put it in as an answer to the wrong class and the wrong test. The sheriff asked, “Well it has historical significance, right?”

Coach spoke after a second, “I teach economics.”

“Oh crap,” the sheriff replied wearily. Derek listened a little about little Allison and Scott who both skipped today, Melissa and the Argent’s weren’t happy about that then he caught sight of the Sheriff. He looked really upset, many of the parents did but he was only interested in one widowed Stilinski. He reached out and pressed a hand to the Sheriff’s shoulder, “Sherriff?”

He turned and caught sight of Derek, gave him a up and down look at the clothes and his open expression, “Derek?”

“I just made you a promise not that long ago and this might not go very well for me but I am really worried about Stiles. He’s angry and I don’t know what he found but he was on something that wasn’t his Adderall this afternoon.”

The Sheriff frowned, “How do you know?”

“I just know and I’m worried about him.”

The Sheriff reached out and touched Derek on the shoulder, “Thank you for telling me this. I won’t tell him about what you told me but I will keep an eye on him.”

Derek nodded then they both heard a commotion outside and walked out. The Argents and the McCall Mom were speaking to each other and Stilinski walked passed and was heading towards his cruiser when people started running and screaming. Derek reached out with his senses, hearing the growl of the mountain lion and looked at the Argents, wondering why they might do this, so they had more time or maybe it was the alpha, trying to cover his bases so the deaths would stop. Honestly he didn’t know and since Chris Argent knew him, Derek was better off not staying. He winced when a car jerked out of the parking space it was in and struck Sheriff Stilinski in the side. He rushed out, not thinking clearly as he helped the man to his feet, taking his weight and seeping some of the pain away from him even as the Sheriff reached down and pulled a gun from an ankle holster and the werewolf couldn’t help the burst of respect that the man was hurt but he was still fighting, Stiles had gotten that fighting spirit from somewhere. Werewolves respect survivors. Derek heard the two shots and looked to see Chris Argent with his big silver gun gleaming in the lights from the school and pointed down at the mountain lion on the ground.

The Sheriff waved Derek off with a thank you though he was still hunched over when he demanded of Chris, “Please tell me you have a permit for that?”

He turned to answer, caught sight of Derek and looked over at Scott and Allison. Derek looked over as well, wondering why the hunter was looking at Scott but it wasn’t the teen wolf he was looking at, it was his daughter and now Derek knew who she was, not that he hadn’t before though Chris hadn’t known that till now. Derek walked over, close enough to whisper to the man, “Your family, right? Your precious innocent daughter? The one that taught you all about taking care of the things you love, well you can’t be with her all the time and after one of your kind killed my family, and now my sister is gone too maybe it’s time for your side to feel the pain of that loss though I doubt it’s going to be your daughter, it’s going to be your sister and it probably won’t be me but I won’t stop them either, not after what she did to me and my family.”

“You threatening us in front of all these people?” Chris demanded quietly.

“No I am promising you that you are not taking any more of us without a lot of loss on your side and as I look around, you don’t have much to lose either. Is this war against my family worth losing her?”

Then the sheriff was demanding to see Chris’s gun permits and license, so Derek slipped off into the darkness, heading back towards the Hale house, not wanting to head back to the large and empty warehouse just yet. It was just so empty without Stiles scent and chatter. On the preserve, he started running, taking off towards the ruins and caught sight of the lights wavering in the distance, growling and letting his claws and teeth drop in preparation of fighting then headed straight for the intruders not that he was intending to fight but he wanted to know what they were doing out here. He tucked himself close to the trees as he got closer and found Kate with two men out there and his breathing hitched at the sight of her. Despite the brave threats made against Kate’s life, he didn’t think he could fight her. Physically he had the strength but mentally even after all these years she was still the one thing that destroy him. The one thing that did destroy him.

“He has to have found another place to slum in or the new wolf is housing him,” Kate stated. They must have been to the Hale house enough to realize that Derek wasn’t using it as a base at the moment though he understood the call of the Preserve to hunt in, it was the best place for the werewolves at any time, day or night.

“But where do we start?” one of the men asked while Derek stayed still, far enough away that they wouldn’t even notice his movement in the darkness but he could hear them just fine. He took in their personal scents, they weren’t the two men with Daddy Argent when they smashed his window, these were here with Kate. They might be willing to play by Senior Argent’s rules but they were probably more loyal to Kate and that made them dangerous.

“The car, its distinctive, we will tap into the security systems and see if we can find the Camaro then find out where he’s coming from and where he’s going.”

Kate paused and Derek looked around, wondering if he’d caused something to snap or creak because Kate was suddenly very interested in the trees all around her. “Maybe we’re a little closer to home than we imagine.”

Derek backed away from them, knowing that with Kate there as a distraction then he may not even be able to take on the other two hunters. He wasn’t strong enough without people, its why a lot of packs move around from town to town, colleges and high schools to recruit new wolves, because with the addition of each member, the alpha would grow stronger, the bonds would bring them together and keep them safer. It was why the alpha had attacked Scott, he was clearly unhinged but also knew that he needed a pack. He turned and walked away, then tugged out his cell phone. This was the one with Stiles’ number on it, which he couldn’t just toss out he’d discovered. He’d easily turned it back on this afternoon and dialed quickly. It was an amazing sensation to behold, that he’d want to discuss so many things with Stiles and hear the teen’s response because he was really smart and the ridiculous stammering, sarcasm and flailing hadn’t been enough to distract Derek from the truth of his intelligence. He didn’t want the current wall to stay up between them but he knew that Stiles wasn’t going to keep making the first move, this was on Derek.

“You’re calling me Derek?” Stiles asked, surprised and a little snide. Derek flinched, his nose wrinkling at the sound and wondered what that kind of hurt would smell like, not pleasant for sure.

“Yes, I am. I was at the high school, the mountain lion showed and Argent killed it but your dad got hurt. He was well enough to demand to see Argent’s concealing carry permit but he was going to be bundled into the ambulance. I didn’t want you to have to wait until someone called you. Not when I could do something about it.”

“Thanks,” Stiles whispered but Derek stayed silent for another moment and he could almost hear the vibration of rage coming through the phone.

“Stiles? Breathe.”

“You don’t get to tell me to fucking breathe Sourwolf! You know the reason my dad got hurt? Because of all this supernatural shit! He’s going to end up another casualty in this fucking war between the wolves and the hunters and I cannot live with that. I’d rather die than live without him!” Derek flinched at the thought and held back the tight angry retort that was demanding to be said as Stiles continued, “Fucking Scott just had to disappear, caring more about Allison’s birthday than the dead body and the witness piling up! You know what? Fuck Scott and fuck you Derek, I’m out.”

Derek just kept breathing into the phone, hoping that Stiles would hear the rhythm and start breathing again because he wasn’t calming down. He wasn’t hurt by Stiles’ language or decision to back out, this was a dangerous world and Derek knew better than most that the second family is at risk, it’s a whole new bag of burning shit.

“I understand Stiles. I won’t switch phones again; in case you need me.”

“Yeah whatever,” the teen sighed and hung up the cell phone. Derek dropped the phone back into his jacket pocket, headed back to the warehouse, intensely glad that he parked the Camaro somewhere else, he didn’t mind running or walking for a couple of days. Not if it kept him alive and the car unspoiled, he didn’t think he was going to stay alive if he had to take it back to the shop again for another broken window or flat tire.

He thought about the fact that Kate had been hanging around the Hale house, if he had been there instead of at the warehouse, well he didn’t want to think of what she could and would have done to him. She wanted the Alpha and he couldn’t give him to her. He understood what Stiles was saying about Laura being killed by the alpha, it was already a possibility in his mind but he couldn’t deal with the idea that the last family member he had, his Uncle was responsible. The man was catatonic; he hadn’t moved without assistance and gentle pressure from his nurses and doctors for years. It seemed unrealistic and much like a miracle if he didn’t know about the supernatural aspect of their lives, sometimes the healing took longer and Derek knew that sometimes the mental agony of an event can keep the healing from continuing at a rapid rate, but this was hard to fathom. Except that him being catatonic was one of the best alibis someone could possibly have.

And now they were going to have to deal with another body and another bitten teenager and if Scott wasn’t hard enough to handle, he couldn’t imagine what Jackson Whittmore was going to be like. How did this become his life anyway? Derek sighed and headed back to the warehouse again, trying not to wonder what Stiles was doing, if he was driving over to the hospital now or if he was going to wait. At least the sheriff hadn’t been hurt as badly as he could have been. It was only going to get worse.

 

Stiles threw his phone down on the bed and screamed into the room, howling in pain and fear even as he started to panic. He collapsed to the floor next to his bed and grasped his throat, clawing at the skin and hoping that more air would get into his lungs, his fingers grappled for his t-shirt, trying to keep it away from his neck for another minute then he realized no one was here to bring him out of it and he needed to go.

“Fuck! Fuck! Come on Stiles, figure your shit out because your dad needs you,” Stiles shouted at himself before he grabbed his phone again and walked out of his bedroom. The panic attack was receding with the plan of getting to his father as quickly as possible. There was nothing more important than knowing his dad was going to be okay. He jumped into the driver’s seat of the jeep and headed out towards the hospital. He parked quickly and noticed off in the next parking lot over, the Camaro. Derek must not be driving at all, and it would be safe and on video since it was here. He shook it off and headed inside and he knew that Melissa wasn’t supposed to be there but when she ran up to him and enveloped him in a hug, Stiles just sank into her grip. He tightened his fingers around the fabric of her jacket and listened as she crooned into his ear. There was a gentle loving hand rubbing the back of his skull and the other was across his back.

“He’s going to be just fine; they are X-raying his chest but he’s going to be okay. He was feeling well enough to rip Mr. Argent’s head off about shooting with that cannon of his when there were so many unarmed civilians running around. Does it make me a bad person that that self-righteous jerk got told off in front of me and it makes me happy?”

Stiles shook his head with a little grin at her proud mama response.

“Argent wasn’t carrying his conceal carry permit. You dad was pissed, especially because he was so worried about someone getting hurt by the predator without adding some crazy gun enthusiast to the problems out there.”

“He doesn’t know Mrs. McCall. My dad doesn’t know what is happening and he’s hurt,” Stiles whispered hoarsely into her neck, “He doesn’t know this isn’t the end or about the Alpha and Scott’s being selfish, staying with that girl!”

Melissa pulled away, “Stiles, why would you say that? I mean besides the obvious, Scott is so grounded thing.”

Stiles leaned in close again, knowing that Scott was going to hate him for this but he couldn’t keep these secrets, they were going to destroy him and his family—what little he had of one. “They are a family of werewolf hunters, here to kill Scott and the alpha. Alison doesn’t appear to know but the rest of them would rather see your son gone.”

Melissa stumbled back a step and she stared at Stiles for a second then she hugged him one last time and walked away, Stiles’ heart leapt into hyper drive because someone was going to be double grounded and Stiles didn’t know if he was even capable of feeling bad about that right now. He walked over to the nurse’s station and someone immediately said that his father was finishing up with x-rays then he was going to be released with some chest wrap and pain killers. Sometimes being the sheriff’s kid had its perks, which were ironically the anti-perks as well because everyone knew him and they had all been around when his mother got sick and died, they all knew that his father getting hurt was stuff of the teen’s nightmares.

One of the other nurses, her name might have been Sue but Stiles didn’t really know, led him to where his father was with the doctor. He wasn’t ready to see him yet so he turned for a moment and pressed a hand to the nurse’s shoulder and asked, “How is Jackson Whittmore?”

She frowned, “Why?”

“He’s on the lacrosse team, just checking to see he was going to be there to win the next game for us,” the sly teenager said with an over exaggerated wink.

She chuckled, “He went home with some antibiotics and a wrap for the bite. He is going to be starting rabies shots but he should be just fine to play. Don’t you worry sweetie, now go check on your dad.”

“Thanks,” Stiles mumbled wondering how they were going to deal with a werewolf Jackson before he turned back to see the sheriff sitting on an exam table, his right-side purple and blue already. Stiles winced at the sight as the doctor wrapped the area with a large ace bandage then wrapped his arm in close to his chest and Stiles gulped, “Dad?”

“Stiles,” the Sheriff mutter and tried to smile, “Hey kid, don’t worry about me. Nothing is broken, just really sore and my shoulder was trying to dislocate. The wrapping is only going to be for tomorrow until the swelling and discomfort goes to a manageable level. I’m doing okay.” His tone said more than the words, that he was trying to keep Stiles from panicking, anytime his dad got hurt it went a little something like this. There was always panic and stammering and mother henning for the next couple of days, his dad knew the plan and with the addition of werewolves into his life was going to make it all the more difficult to deal with.

Stiles nodded as he walked in and pressed close to the side that the doctor wasn’t working on, pressing his forehead to his dad’s shoulder, then went for silly and Stiles, “So what did you get out of the teachers?”

Stilinski snorted then groaned, “Don’t be funny right now kid. It’s going to hurt for a little while.”

Stiles nodded into his father’s shoulder, even when the doctor cleared his throat, the teen didn’t move, he just stayed where he was until the doctor was done and he handed some paperwork to the sheriff before leaving the room. Stiles wrapped an arm around his dad’s shoulder gently and stayed close. “I swear I can work on the school stuff dad. I’ll behave myself. I don’t want you to worry about that stuff. Just get better and stay safe.”

“Stiles, despite your seemingly desperate need to be a sarcastic ridiculous pain in my ass and the collective asses of your teachers, you are still doing incredibly well. We are going to still continue the deal we talked about but we’re going to be fine.”

Stiles nodded, sighed and watched as the doctor continued what he was doing. He tried to get a handle himself, with his dad getting hurt and Scott and Allison and the Argents. Then there was the stupid kiss with Derek and everything that was happening there and he was just done with all of it. He was just going to go back to being the nerd, he was going to listen to Scott bitch about Jackson (not the soon to be creature of the moon, just the douchebag) and normal things but that was it. He couldn’t deal with possibly losing his father because of what happened to Scott, he wanted to be there and he loved his best friend but ever since he’d been turned, the kid that he’d always known was slipping away a little at a time and the magnitude of crap that had adopted with the hunters and Allison and the alpha was just too much for Stiles. This was no longer the mystery to keep him focused off of the time of year and the loss that he’d never really gotten over. Now it was something that was going to cost him his best friend and possibly his only remaining family. He felt the buzz in his pocket and reached in to grab the phone and tugged it out to see Lydia’s name on his screen. “Hey Dad, can we talk about this later?”

The Sheriff nodded and Stiles answered the phone, “Hello?”

“Stiles, my mother reminded me that you stopped by earlier and I realized that I made you a promise at lunch a couple days ago. I would like to follow through on it.”

He frowned, trying to remember what happened at lunch a couple days before but he was drawing a blank alongside all the other crap hitting the fan at the moment. “Uh?” he made the sound into a question, hoping she would just pile drive through like normal.

She did, “You asked me to help you with some clothing changes. What about this weekend?”

“Uh?” he said again, “Yeah, sounds good. Just you and me though? No Allison,” Stiles returned quickly. He couldn’t deal with her right now for more than a couple reasons, chief among them that she was the reason Scott wasn’t there when Stiles needed him.

“What about Danny?” Lydia asked and there was an evil grin in her tone that Stiles wasn’t brave enough to even ask about.

“Sounds good, he’s a pretty good dresser too, maybe he can help make me be less of a train wreck. Maybe help me with the lacrosse thing as well?”

“We can hope,” she answered coyly and hung up the phone. He chuckled at the thought that maybe he wouldn’t be a nerd forever, the only thing he had to do was have a sexual identity crisis and there they were—the popular people though he didn’t know why. Scott had his way in and apparently so did Stiles, he just never imagined it would be like this. He was still struggling with the feelings he had wrapped up and around Derek, not sure what to do with them besides ignore them for the sake of everyone’s sanity but with Danny and Lydia helping him out, maybe it would be easier to figure this out.

For now though, it seemed he was going clothes shopping with Lydia Martin and Danny Mahealani this weekend. And the thought wasn’t as nauseating as he thought it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all like the new chapter, comments and kudos are always going to make me go faster ;) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	8. Monitor My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott is learning control, Stiles is losing his in every area of his life and a blast from his wicked past visits Derek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There might be some stuff later in the chapter that could be considered triggering to someone who might have issues with rape and/or sexual assault, it is nothing big or out there but take care of you.

Derek grabbed Scott around the throat, tightening his claws just enough to make the kid bleed and dragged him onto the hood of the car, “You’re dead!”

Scott stared up at him, the tension seeping out of his body at the knowledge that it was Derek and not the alpha, the beta could feel it and sense it, as he came down from the adrenaline rush. He got down off the car and walked away, Scott following behind him as he shouted, “What the hell was that?”

“I said I would try to teach you, I didn’t say when. This is a part of that. You can never depend on werewolves to attack when you know about it. He’s going to come for you when you least expect it, so you need to expect it always.”

“You scared the crap out of me!” Scott whined and Derek looked him over, sniffed with a grimace and snorted, his bowels were in perfect working condition though the teen could do with another shower, though it was mostly normal teenage boy hormones and body odor and Allisson and he hated that scent because she was carting around a shade of Kate’s scent so the sweat was better anyway. He would never admit to anyone except in the privacy of his mind (or maybe to Stiles) that he would run Scott through the wringer just to get him sweating so the scent of _her_ would start to fade.

“Not yet.”

Scott then proceeded to tell Derek all the ways he was better but Derek just kept shutting him down, “Do you really think the Alpha is going to care that you had an inopportune phone call from her? He’s going to find you and get you to kill under the full moon. Maybe her, probably Stiles and honestly anyone that pulls you back to your human side. Do you want that?”

“No,” he paused and took a deep breath, starting again, “No, what happened the other night with Stiles’s dad, that was my fault! I should have been there!”

“Well then you need to get rid of distractions, get rid of her!”

“Just because of her family,” Scott demanded and wasn’t he the king of wishy-washy decision making, Derek thought trying not to face palm at the conversation.

“Its more than that Scott! The only way I know how to teach you is by tapping into an animal rage, you have to get angry and you won’t ever get angry enough when she’s around. It’s going to be hard for me anyway, I was born like this and you were bitten. I have been learning this since I was born, I don’t have to fight part of my mind every time I try to rationalize or logic this. You, are different and this is the only way I know. It gives you power and control!”

“I can get angry!” Scott said desperately and Derek paused for a moment to give him a judging look mostly with his eyebrows, trying not to think about the time Stiles walked Derek through a whole paper’s worth of evidence about the chattiness of his eyebrows, before he continued.

“Do you want to live? Do you want to protect your friends and family?”

“Yes!”

“Then stay away from her at least until after the full moon! Can you do that?”

“I can!”

With that Derek watched as Scott flounced away. Derek followed for a minute and watched as he grabbed all the groceries from the ground and got into his mother’s car. Derek’s car was still being moved around town every couple of days at the moment, to try to keep the Argents’ away from his place. He knew that Scott was going to go right to Alison but that was to be expected, so Derek headed back towards Scott’s house and continued but then took a deep breath through his nose. He did it again and his eyes flashed blue as he caught the scent and groaned.

The alpha was here, waiting for something, he was waiting for Scott so Derek headed for Alison’s house to see if the Alpha was there but he didn’t sense the other wolf, instead he headed back to Scott’s house and settled into the chair in the teen’s bedroom and tugged the phone out of his pocket and opening the old conversations he’d had with Stiles, and wondered again if he should just talk to the human. He hadn’t heard from him since his dad got hurt, though Scott had told Derek that Stiles hadn’t been talking to his best friend either, the blame that Scott heaped on himself Stiles felt as well. Derek didn’t think that Stiles really believed Scott was to blame but he was scared of losing his father and Derek had no idea if he knew about Derek telling the Sheriff about the other night when he’d smelled like drugs, and not Adderall.

He tapped out a quick message and stared down at it for a few more minutes than deleted it again, groaned because seriously when had he ever acted like this? He hadn’t been like this with crushes in high school before the fire, even _her_. There hadn’t been anyone since the fire, to wedge themselves under his skin and into his heart like the scrawny floppy teen had done. If Stiles had been willing to give up their growing friendship for Derek’s sake, then he would just have to be willing to do the same.

He picked the most neutral topic that he really wanted an answer to and hoped that Stiles would talk to him, **‘How’s your dad?’**

**‘Does this mean that I am welcome in the pack again, after what I did? Your texting me and calling me? Or is this just about getting the information you want and keep on keeping on without me?’**

Derek sighed, thinking back to the things he’d said, that Stiles wasn’t a werewolf and he wasn’t a part of this, that he shouldn’t be a part of this. He sighed as he tapped out a message slowly because he was sure Stiles was pissed and he had every right to be, **‘I just want to be sure that he is doing well.’**

A few minutes skittered by and he wondered if he was going to get an answer when his phone buzzed and he opened the message, **‘He’s doing fine, better if he didn’t have to deal with this supernatural shit with his eyes closed and his hands tied behind his back but there you go.’**

Derek didn’t know what to say to that, then he phone buzzed again and he looked down to see another message from Stiles because mostly this was how the teen talked, message after message because he’d forgotten to say something he needed to in his rush to tap out his texts, **‘Jackson was sent home with antibiotics. I will keep an eye out for Scott-like symptoms of werewolf-hood because Scott’s apparently too busy at the Hale Werewolf Academy for beginners and his absolute LOVE FOR ALLISON campaign.’**

Wow, the dramatic teenager was swimming in anger and resentment at the moment and Derek could almost feel it in his chest. He didn’t know what else to say because he didn’t think he could have _that_ conversation right now so he stuck to simple, **‘Thanks.’**

Derek tucked the phone back in his bag since it seemed that right now all his messages were doing was pissing Stiles off at the moment but he knew that he needed to see him and figure this out. He went back to waiting, snorting at the description of ‘Scott-like symptoms’, that was Stiles and he was pleased that despite the teen’s anger he wasn’t treating Derek any different really, inviting him into the news but there was something else. After learning the truth, Stiles had never started treated Derek like a victim and he didn’t even think he’d ever been so grateful for anything in his life. Stiles deserved better than the silence and space, he was a good guy, someone that was just trying to show Derek that he could be trusted. Derek shrugged, he would just keep trying. God he hated trying, that’s why he’d been fine for years with just Laura because he’d had literally zero interest in working at any kind of friendships or relationships.

It wasn’t long before Scott came tearing into the dark bedroom, closing the shade and checking outside again before flicking on the light and jumping at the sight of Derek sitting there. “You have got to stop doing that!” he exclaimed.

Derek raised an eyebrow though he couldn’t help the little thrill of scaring him but it was just another thing they would have to work on, “Why didn’t you already know I was here?” It was ridiculous that this kid had werewolf abilities and he was so easily surprised sometimes. Scott apparently didn’t need to just control the shift and the animal-ness of who he was now but he desperately needed to be retrained to notice his surroundings. For now he would have to just stick to why he was here.

“What happened? Did he say anything to you?” Derek asked after a moment of silence.

“How did you even know?” Scott demanded, throwing his hands in the air then continued, sarcasm dripping from each word. “Sure, we have a lovely conversation about the weather,” Derek noticed that it really wasn’t as good as Stiles’ sarcasm, Scott was too wholesome and puppy-like though the voice of his best friend was in there under the whining. Stiles had bite to him, the same way Derek’s brooding anger was a cover from the pain. Scott continued and Derek tried to shake of the conflicting thoughts he had about everything involving Stiles Stilinski, “No he didn’t talk!”

“Did you get anything from him, an impression?”

“What?”

“Remember you have other senses other than hearing, you can get impressions and feelings. Was there anything that we’ve talked about before? The bond is there, just try and find it, listen to it.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, I sensed anger.”

“At you?” Derek asked.

“No, I felt it when he drew the spiral.”

Derek’s gaze sharpened and focused at that, thinking of the last time he’d seen a spiral, “What did you say?”

“A spiral, he drew it in the condensation on the window, why? You have this look on your face, like you know what it means.”

Derek sighed, wondering who would be here in Beacon Hills with a vendetta and thought of Stiles and his theories that weren’t as wild as the beta originally believed, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t do that,” Scott demanded and Derek glared at him, “No you can’t continue to say ‘trust me’ then keep stuff back from me. Now tell me what it means! You say Pack and that we’re brothers so let me in!”

Derek sighed, it was the same thing Stiles had asked of him and he hated that they kept throwing his words back at him. It was awful. He took a deep breath and opened the door a little too trusting this other beta. He thought about the spiral when he’d seen it ripped into the side of the building out in the middle of nowhere, a place that he found when he’d been wandering after everything that happened before the fire and Kate. The event that changed the color of his eyes. He thought about Ennis and the other alphas and everything that his mother told him later. He asked her about the spiral but there were things that most werewolves knew about and the spiral was one of them.

“It’s a symbol for a vendetta for when one of our kind seeks revenge. That means that the murders weren’t random, there was a reason for them and I need to find out what it is and if it was why my sister was here. The Hales know most of the nearby werewolves and if there was someone here seeking revenge maybe they called her and it all went wrong somehow. I don’t know how yet but I do know one thing: he’s not going to stop until someone stops him. And as he kills more, the more his humanity is going to slip away and then it will just become about the kill, it’s how werewolves become feral. And I cannot describe the kind of terror you should fear at the idea of a feral alpha.”

“Fear, check! What werewolves would have a vendetta here in Beacon Hills? I thought the Hales have had this territory for a long time.” Scott asked, swinging his arms in expressive gestures while Derek walked around Scott and towards the door.

“Scott, I will see you after work tomorrow. We can keep practicing but this isn’t your problem right now. Just go be a normal kid and we will get you your control.”

The teen nodded and watched as Derek left, heading back towards Stiles house, stopping in front and waited a few minutes, the jeep wasn’t here and neither was the sheriff cruiser. So Stiles wasn’t here, Derek would just have to message him again when he was done have a minor internal freak-out. He hated the idea that Uncle Peter could have something to do with this though it seemed that it was more than likely though Derek didn’t know how it was possible that he’d pulled it off from his catatonic state. It was painfully obvious that he’d shut down what Stiles had been telling him because he’d been desperate to not lose the last remaining family member he had but there were so few things that werewolves set out for revenge and the biggest was losing a pack-mate. They’d lost most of them that night and if he wasn’t the Alpha (because he wasn’t) and Laura was dead the only answer had to be Peter and Derek hated those odds and the chance that he was going to lose someone else before the end.

 

Stiles tucked his cell phone in his pocket as he sat down in front of Peter Hale, clutching the papers in his hand and wondered again what the hell he was doing here. Why did he have to be so smart and stubborn about said intelligence? Why was he here without some supernatural backup?

“Hello my name is Stiles Stilinski,” Stiles started and watched, waiting to see if he would move but he didn’t. The scarred man just sat there and Stiles continued on before he freaked himself out of doing what he came here to do. “So I know Derek, your nephew, I know that he came here because someone killed his sister and took her alpha abilities which should have gone to him. Someone stole that from her in the most vicious way possible and it’s killing Derek to have lost another family member, the last family member he had besides you,” Stiles sneered the final statement then took a deep breath because he needed to stay calm and not attack like he wanted to. When had fighting for Derek become second nature to him anyway? He moved in a little closer, hissing out between clenched teeth, “How dare you do that to him!” then opened up the file with a snap.

Peter still hadn’t moved but he hadn’t really expected it yet. Stiles was here for the long haul and he knew that the nurse wasn’t set to ‘check’ on him for another hour or so. He scanned the page of information he’d retrieved from the hospital records as well as what he found from the sheriff’s station and proceeded to tell the man what he’d found. He described what the police had found and more importantly what hadn’t been found, “It had to have been miserable when you found out that they were going to get away with it. Did Derek and Laura come to you, to visit and tell you about everything? I know they couldn’t leave town until the insurance claim on the family members came through and the investigation was over. They would have been here every second they could be, because that’s Derek. I know you lost everything; your family, including your wife and unborn children but this… I just don’t understand how you could do that to your nephew and niece. They were family—pack, they should’ve been more important than revenge.” Stiles paused and took a deep breath because as he was speaking the words had started to speed up until he was tripping over his tongue trying to get them out. He needed to be as calm about this as possible because the most important part was still coming, “But you must be interested in how I know any of this.”

Peter still didn’t move so Stiles just continued.

“I looked into your records, the tests those nice lovely nurses take happen on a schedule, they were showing healing, slow and steady healing then there was a couple of points where you started to deteriorate, seizing a couple of times then you started improving again. Then something even more interesting started happening. Everything just stopped and remained static for the last couple of months and even before that things changed. Someone was doctoring the results and what would do that? What would that do for you? If you were getting worse then the doctors and your family would need to know that and why would anyone want to hide that you were getting better? Unless you somehow convinced someone to keep your secret. I looked into when your main nurse changed and it was around the same time, so did you seduce her? Did you threaten her or promise her the Bite? I just want to know what kind of person would do that to your nephew, someone you claimed to care for. Were the deaths more important than Laura and Derek, the living members of your family? How can you possibly live with what you are doing to him? He’s sinking into himself even more, the only reason he is still even here is because he couldn’t stand the idea of losing anyone else. I know it’s you killing people Peter, and your started with your niece so you don’t need to pretend anymore. This is revenge and it’s going to cost you everything, including Derek. How can you possibly want that?”

Then it was there, a single solitary twitch in the corner of Peter’s lip like he was going to growl or smile and Stiles smirked, “See now I don’t know what your exact plan is, I don’t know any of the other victims because I don’t know enough about the fire but I do know that she’s here, the one who started it. And you know what else? No matter what happens, Scott’s not going to fight with you and neither is Derek. Not after what you did.”

Then in a move straight out of a horror film, Peter’s gaze focused, that hazy mud brown turning into something of sharp intelligence and then shifted to Stiles and he jerked back, not really realizing how close he’d gotten to the supposedly injured werewolf, he could feel the air wafting over his face from Peter’s slightly accelerated breathing pattern at being caught out. He’d been that close the Peter Hale.

Peter: the psycho alpha werewolf.

Stiles reached into his pocket and palmed his phone but Peter’s gaze followed his movement but said nothing so far. He seemed to be content with the silent terrifying routine which Stiles could understand since it was terrifying! The teen didn’t know if he should try to stand or if that would just bring a swift death and thought rather belatedly that this was a stupid plan. Why was he always choosing the stupid solitary fight these days? Where the hell was Scott anyway? Were things with his best friend so bad that he was desperate for some pain or was he just plain suicidal? Or maybe it was just his cleverness and hubris (yes he knew what hubris was and this could totally be considered hubris) making him act like this, it would be a question for another time.

Peter’s gaze flared red then faded back to ordinary brown, the wolf said nothing so Stiles just stood and backed away slowly, “I know about you now Peter and I will tell Derek and Scott. I am going to keep them safe, even if it’s just with forewarning. Don’t underestimate me just because I’m a human, like they want to.”

As he was moving, he flicked his finger across the screen of his phone, making the call that he’d planned to make in case things went bad and though they weren’t ‘bad’ yet, it was edging towards it rather quickly and he knew how fast werewolves were. He couldn’t save himself if Peter decided to take him down. The person on the other end was aware of the situation and standing at the ready and though it had been a backup plan, it wasn’t the best and would have just put both of them at higher risk. They were puny humans standing between Mothra and Godzilla pinging tiny bullets from pea shooters off of the monsters’ legs.

Melissa appeared a few seconds later looking like the affronted nurse that she was playing, undoubtedly drawing on all the times she wanted to say that to Stiles in the past, “Excuse me! What are you doing in here young man, you didn’t sign in at the nurse’s station. Come with me now!”

Stiles watched as Peter’s eyes stayed on him for a second longer then glazed over as Melissa looked over and he stared grudgingly amazed that Peter had the kind of mental and physical strength to pull of the catatonic state for so long. It took more self-control that Stiles would ever be capable of, “I am so sorry sir, he won’t be bothering you again.”

Stiles mumbled under his breath even as Melissa grabbed him roughly for show and dragged him away from the room, “Wanna bet!” he shouted just to play the part of the teenage menace and also as a promise. Nothing that Melissa needed to know at the moment. She kept dragging him forcibly away until they were down the hall and well away from the hospital room. He wanted as far away from the monster in damaged sheep’s clothing. He slowed as they made it out the door, the nurses didn’t catch on to the extra visitors, Melissa had done her part well, the only person who knew he had been in there was Peter and him.

“Thanks for the quick save,” Stiles said as he walked towards the parking lot but Melissa stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, the stopping momentum pulled Stiles around to face her.

“Are you sure that was him?” Melissa whispered and Stiles didn’t know if she was doing it because of fears about supernatural hearing or boring normal ones but he didn’t follow her lead as he answered, even if Peter was listening they were too far for the hearing to work. Scott and Derek had done a lot of fooling around on the distance for the werewolf hearing. It was better on and around the full moon but right now, they should be fine.

“Yes, I got visual proof, I don’t know if that will be enough for Derek but I had to try.”

“Stiles,” Melissa chided and his heart hurt at the sound of her annoyed but understanding ‘mom voice’. Melissa had always been a mom to him and that wasn’t going to change now. He swallowed with a hard click in his throat and looked at her as she spoke. “What are you doing this for? I don’t want Scott to be involved but if that man did what you are saying then he’s dangerous and clearly unhinged, you are painting a target on your back and if you get hurt in all this mess, a lot of people are not going to take it well and that includes me. Think of your father and Scott before you do something like this again without the appropriate back up.”

He nodded, scrubbing a hand over his head, “Yes Ma’am.” She leaned in close and pressed a kiss to his head and he swallowed painfully again, god he missed his mom these days—a lot. And remembering things about his mother’s friend, Talia Hale, made it feel even worse sometimes. Like he lost two moms.

Stiles climbed into the jeep while Melissa walked back over to the hospital and Stiles was glad that they had made a plan to not let the alpha know that he was connected to her but he still didn’t like how close she was to that long-term facility. To Peter she was just the pretty nurse coming to save the invalid from the curious teenager. He drove back to the house and parked, walking inside and closing the door behind him. He knew he had to talk to Derek, because the longer he was quiet about what he found out the easier it would be for Peter to come for him. Hopefully the alpha wouldn’t realize where he lived, the Stilinski’s hadn’t been involved with Peter as far as Stiles knew but who knew. He shouldn’t have a problem but he had said his name and it would be easy to find out who he was, “Idiot,” he thought at that realization. Everyone knew where the Sheriff lived through or at least have a sense of it because of his title in town. Peter had been in the hospital for the last six years so maybe it would at least take a day or two before the alpha came for him.

He tugged his phone out of his pocket as he walked up the stairs and dialed as he walked into his room, just in time to hear the answering ringtone and turned to find Derek sitting at his desk, looking at the other information he had about not just Peter but about the fire. Stiles hung up quickly, “Derek?”

“Stiles, I need to talk to you about what you asked me a couple days ago, your suspicions?”

He walked over to the table and tossed down the rest of the paperwork, “I was calling you because I went to see Peter.”

“Stiles,” Derek started clearly exasperated but the teen just rushed on and over what the werewolf was starting to say.

“No listen, I pushed him, talked to him about the fire and what was happening recently with the animal attacks/murders, I asked him how he could possibly live with what he did to you and Laura, after all that you’ve lost it shouldn’t have been your _fucking uncle_ that took her from you! He looked at me, his eyes glowed red. He’s pretending and someone there is covering for him for who knows why. I didn’t get any answers from him but he’s lying and his eyes glowed red, I haven’t seen you do that or Scott. What does it mean?”

Derek stared at the teen in surprise though Stiles didn’t know what it was in response to then the werewolf slumped down on the edge of the bed and rubbed a hand over his face, “He killed her, I wondered but I wasn’t willing to believe it until Scott told me about the spiral. He’s seeking revenge and he’s not going to stop until it’s all over. The Argents are undoubtedly on that vengeance list, though I don’t know who else. I don’t understand why he would kill Laura though.”

“So Peter is the Alpha then?” Stiles asked, just for clarity sake especially because Derek was taking this better than he ever imagined though the man did look more than a little devastated while maintaining a level of neutrality, probably because they had to find a way to survive this before he would have a chance to work it through.

Derek nodded, “Alphas have red eyes, he showed you who he was which means that you are going to be in danger. He’s going to find you; turn you or kill you. Why would you go there and call him out? Why would you do something so stupid?”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “I did it because you wouldn’t take my word for it, you wouldn’t believe me. You didn’t think I was enough for the pack! I am weak and breakable! I had to find evidence and honestly I didn’t think he would cave so quickly.”

“He’s insane Stiles!” Derek growled, “That’s why he couldn’t hold back, you are getting in the way of him avenging his family which means that you could very well be next or you’re going to be used to get to Scott. I thought you were going to stay out of this,” Derek demanded, clearly pissed that they were having this conversation to begin with. Stiles started pacing, wishing he could take another Adderall but he’d only had one right before he headed into the long-term care facility which meant his dad was going to find out because he needed a refill but he wished he could get that chemical boost to calm him down so he could deal with this.

“I was but this shit has infiltrated my life and I have to do something about it otherwise I am going to lose all the people I care about and I am not willing to see that happen without fighting to my last breath.”

“You’re an idiot,” Derek growled, Stiles didn’t know what the werewolf was feeling besides pissed but it didn’t really matter at this point. The teenager had always been a believer in asking for forgiveness instead of permission. And right now he wasn’t even willing to ask forgiveness because he’d done the right thing though he knew his planning could have gone better.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Stiles just shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to stay moving because he was an idiot and several people had already pointed that out and it probably wouldn’t be the last time either. When it came to the people he loved, apparently, he was capable of anything.

“I know you hate it but you are human and breakable, not even Scott and I can survive everything. Right now because the alpha doesn’t have a pack, he’s weak but he’s still tougher than I am going to be on my own. It’s going to take both Scott and I, I know he hates that and I hate it but that’s the situation we have but it’s not going to be you fighting him!”

“I was never planning to fight, just force the truth out. And maybe if you were teaching me how to take care of myself, fight against werewolves, then this stupid town wouldn’t suddenly be so dangerous! Or maybe I should just let him bite me and turn me. Then I wouldn’t be the sidekick in this Batman story.”

Derek looked up at Stiles even while he continued to pace and though the spastic teen didn’t believe what he was saying, he was jealous that in this world they were learning about, Scott had this power and all he could do with it was fall in love with a pretty girl who was out of his geeky league and started playing lacrosse better. Being strong meant something more than the selfish desire to have a better life, Scott had a responsibility and it was one that he had proven more than once that he was okay with shirking since this all started.

“You’re not a sidekick,” Derek finally whispered “You’re not Robin.”

Stiles shrugged and replied sheepishly even as his cheeks pinked a little bit, “I don’t know how not to find it endearing that you know who Batman and Robin are so knock it off. What are we going to do about the target I painted on my back?”

“Can you stay with Scott?” Derek asked with a weary sigh and Stiles tried not to notice the slight flush on the beta’s cheekbones.

He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at the older man, “That’s not going to happen tonight. I haven’t forgiven him for leaving me alone and then my dad got hurt because he was out there doing what you and Scott should be dealing with.”

Derek sighed, stood up and started taking off his jacket then scrunched it up and dropped the pile on the floor next to the bed, “Then I guess I am staying here tonight. The Alpha…”

“Peter,” Stiles interjected sullenly.

“What?”

“You are going to have to say that he’s the alpha at some point, you’re going to have to deal with the fact that he’s the one who killed your sister and those people, he brought the hunters here and brought you here to find her without coming to you like family.”

Derek glared at him and his green eyes flashed to the brilliant blue. Stiles wondered why Scott’s were gold and Derek’s were blue anyway? Maybe it was a Turned/Born werewolf thing. Derek spoke after a minute of ineffectual glaring at the standing teenager, “Yeah I completely grasp the fact of what you told me Stiles, but you don’t get to tell me when that happens. I am having a difficult time dealing with the fact that I am going to lose both of them within weeks of each other. Can you really blame me for my choosing ignorance?”

“No I guess not but don’t wait too long otherwise the rest of us are going down with him,” Stiles said and held up his hands when Derek glared at him again then pointed out what Derek was doing, “So what’s with the getting comfortable thing?”

“I am not going anywhere while he’s out there and he knows that you know. I can’t deal with you dying or getting hurt either and though I truly believe that the Bite is a gift, it should be one that you get to choose unlike Scott or Jackson. I won’t let him touch you as long as I can.”

“What if I want the Bite?” the teen asked.

Derek stared up at him for several seconds and Stiles started to squirm where he was standing until he exclaimed, “Okay, I’m jealous of Scott. Like ‘Shrek’ green with it, seriously but I don’t want to be a werewolf. I don’t want to lose myself like he has.”

Derek’s eyebrows waggled a little though he wasn’t smiling with anything more than a little crinkle around his eyes, and the teen couldn’t help but grin at the prideful response, as if knowing that Stiles wasn’t sharing the whole story because he knew Stiles is pleasing to him. Stiles shook his head but said nothing, figuring he would just get started getting ready for bed. He could feel the itchiness under his skin but refused to touch the area, he knew it was because of Derek’s proximity, not the other x-factors. He didn’t know how to deal with seeing him after the kiss that they _still weren’t talking about_. As of right now, he didn’t really know what he would say anyway. He’d kept up with his new contacts on the LGBT sites, continued to do reading to find out what he was and so far, he still didn’t know. He did know that there was something about Lydia that called to him, her beauty and her intelligence and there was something about Derek Hale that was integral to who he was that drew Stiles in. There wasn’t much in common between the two crushes, the few being: unattainable, beautiful but that’s where it stopped. Derek was so different from anything he’d ever known before and he was a dude. Clearly that meant that Stiles was at least bisexual or whatever but he was okay with not putting a new label on himself for a while. Stiles did know that he didn’t look at Jackson or Scott, or most of the guys in his class or on the lacrosse team and think ‘Oh baby, I’d hit that’ but when he was close to Derek there was something there. It was the start of something and if he was honest, it wasn’t a something that he wanted to give up even if it was just friendship for now.

“You going to go to sleep?” Derek grumbled as Stiles twisted and turned on the bed, thinking all these thoughts and he didn’t know what to do. If he opened his mouth now he was going to say something ridiculous. So he didn’t say anything and waited for Derek to leave him alone.

“Thank you,” the werewolf whispered after several anxiety-ridden moments of silence and his voice was gruff, shuddering at the end. Stiles leaned over the side of the bed, caught sight of the shimmer of tears reflected from the growing moon through the window in the man’s eyes. Stiles tucked his chin into his hand and watched as Derek ignored his gaze and kept his eyes on the window.

“For what? Breaking the trust you decided to give me? Kissing you? Telling you something you didn’t want to know, throwing your only remaining family member under a bus, even if what I said was true?”

Derek shifted his gaze and locked onto Stiles, the green eyes always a strange surprise to Stiles, “Thank you for caring enough about me and my family to find out the truth and tell me about it. I hate the idea of you putting yourself in harm’s way because of this but there isn’t anything I can do to change the past so I am going to do what I have to now.”

Stiles nodded, the pressure of his chin driving into his hand shifting the tendons under the skin keeping him present and keeping his heart rate steady instead of hammering at the content of the conversation. He swallowed, his throat dry and clicking with anxiety, “And the rest?” _Because_ he needed to know.

Derek shrugged, his shoulders digging into the leather jacket that was under his head before he resettled, “You didn’t break my trust Stiles, and you’re pack. That’s all I need to know. The rest is over and in the past.”

Stiles sighed, trying not to face up to the disappointment that was riding him and wondered for a second what it smelled like to Derek, was there a distinctive scent to all emotions or were they like colors, with the main ones like red, blue and yellow? And as you added emotions then it was like red and blue making purple. He wondered at what point the scent was just so convoluted that it was indescribable, like a mucky muddy brown. Scott had been learning about them but he hadn’t been able to tell Stiles about it. He wondered what it was like for Derek. Stiles settled back on the bed and sighed, “Okay.” He relaxed to sleep knowing that Derek was there, and wondered for the seconds before he fell asleep that he hoped Derek left before his dad got home and he wondered where the Camaro was.

*          *          *

When the teen woke up the next day, it was to a scrawled note on his pillow which said, ‘ _Left when your father came home, I will be around. I am training with Scott after he gets off work at the clinic. Come? Don’t be alone, especially at night.’_

Stiles nodded, like Derek could see him and chuckled when he realized what he was doing. So maybe there was never going to be anything there, he didn’t think he was so attracted and deep into the feelings he had that he couldn’t pull himself back out of them with some force and discomfort, though being in close proximity probably wasn’t going to make matters any better but it was a start. He got out of bed and got dressed for school, heading downstairs and found his dad sitting at the table with a bunch of paperwork laid out. He passed by the sheriff, pressing a hand to his shoulder in passing as the contact was comforting to him, “Can I make you something to eat Dad?” he asked.

He wasn’t the greatest cook but he’d started to learn because without his mom they had been living out of take-out bags and the only slightly better diner food not to mention donuts. Lots and lots of donuts. Stiles’ desire to protect his father had got him looking into cholesterol and heart attacks, what food was better for him and so sometimes he cooked to make sure his dad got something healthy every once in a while, but it was already starting to be more of a hobby that he looked forward to sometimes. Cooking could be something soothing for him when finding comfort in the Adderall or his friends became harder, not to mention the fact that his dad took his extra doses of Adderall. Not to mention when it came to research nonsensical things, food always seemed to come up sooner or later and Stiles enjoyed the comfort and science of cooking, plus it tasted good at the end—most of the time. Though he hadn’t been able to do much since Scott was turned, there was just too much going on since then.

The sheriff shook his head, “I’ll get something on the way out, you eat though.”

Stiles went about making some scrambled eggs and toast, before sitting down across from his dad, “How’s it going Dad?”

Stilinski shook his head, “Just looking over all the notes from the animal attacks, wanted to get all my ducks in a row and close the case now that Argent gunned down the mountain lion, though from what I understand there are some inconsistences which I am keeping my eyes on.”

The teen listened to his father, his heart beat picking up to an uncomfortable pace because Peter was still out there and the case wasn’t closed and it wasn’t an animal only, if the sheriff and the deputies all believed that it was over it would be even more dangerous for them. All of them.

Peter wasn’t done yet, of that Stiles was sure. Derek didn’t recognize any of the names of the victims so far which meant that their involvement was cursory at best and there was no way he was going to kill those people and not go for the main event, Alison would be in danger right along with her aunt and father, though Stiles didn’t think anyone besides Kate deserved a brilliant and fiery demise, Alison had been nothing but sweet and naïve. Stiles would pin all of his hopes and dreams on the fact that Alison didn’t know what her family was up to but to Peter, killing someone so innocent would be harmful for the family, it would destroy all of them if Alison died so she was in just as much danger.

“You have that face,” his dad said, startling Stiles back to the present.

He laughed when the sheriff frowned at him, “Sorry, my mind was wandering. It’s been a weird semester so far.”

His dad nodded, looking back down at his paperwork even as he spoke and it was that calming ‘dad voice’ that meant nothing good was about to come out of his mouth, “Stiles I know this has been hard, getting through this and now you aren’t getting to use some of your old methods of being okay. I know that you hate to slow down and think about anything but I am going to need you to do something for me. I need you to keep your fingers out of this. Just go to school, hang out with Scott and do your homework.”

Stiles nodded thought he wanted to shrug, “Dad I have to tell you that I am almost out of pills.”

The Sheriff glared at his son for a minute, “I’ll make the call but I know how many pills you get and they better last that many days this time otherwise we are going to find another option that isn’t meds.”

Stiles nodded quickly, he didn’t know what else to do really. He needed the meds, they helped him and kept him sane so he was going to do what he needed to do to keep it. He still had a few of the other pills he took from Lydia but he was going to use them in dire circumstances though he didn’t think he could get any more of them anywhere. He was glad that his Dad hadn’t gotten madder about it. He continued eating his breakfast, sitting down across from his dad, chewing slowly because he found himself wondering if he should try again with his dad. He had to know that there was something he could share but he didn’t want to be laughed at again but he had to try. Maybe some of the personal stuff was a good place to start at least, maybe this one his dad could help him understand at some point in the future but only if he could tell him the truth.

“Listen I know you kind of know this already but Scott and I have befriended someone. This someone isn’t someone you would imagine either of us having anything in common with but we do.”

“Oh?” the sheriff’s tone was stuck somewhere between excitement and apprehension; they hadn’t had other friends since before Stiles’ mom died, it was like the only person he had the energy to maintain a relationship with was Scott and his Dad, not even connecting with Mrs. McCall in a way that Stiles might have wanted when he was younger.

“Derek Hale?” he asked, though he didn’t know exactly what the question was.

His dad frowned, “Stiles?”

“Dad?” he returned innocently.

“Stiles,” the sheriff groaned, “He was suspected of murder, your best friend called me to report a crime not to mention he’s several years older. He’s old enough to buy things for you! What could you possibly have in common?”

The teenager nodded and frowned. His dad had a point, “I know Dad, trust me I know. There is a lot more that we need to talk about but maybe a few minutes before you are going to be leaving isn’t a good time. I told you when Scott called that Derek wasn’t guilty. After his sister was killed, he needed help and I gave it to him. It was just some information about places around town that he might be able to stay and since he hadn’t been in Beacon Hills for a while I helped him. We kind of clicked and have been friends, getting to be friends anyway. It’s not the bro-team like Scott and I have but Dad, he gets it and I need that I think.”

The sheriff sighs and looks at his son speculatively, “You found someone to talk to then?”

Stiles was glad he doesn’t ask for an explanation of what ‘it’ is, because he didn’t need to. It was alive in both of them and the sheriff knew better than most about what Derek suffered when the fire happened. Stiles and his dad had both read the files and the news clippings but the sheriff had been there when it happened. He’d seen Derek when it was all over and he was left standing in the cold burned out husk of his own life.

“It seems like sometimes fate is a real-life force that cannot be bargained with,” Stilinski said with a weary sigh.

Stiles stared at him in surprise, “Well that was a tad more dramatic than I was expecting,” he snorted. He kept eating though there wasn’t much left, adding some salt and pepper just for the sake of something to do while he waited for his father to keep talking.

“As you already know, your mother and Talia Hale were friends. They were very important to each other, to the point I thought there was something going on but I hope that there wasn’t.”

“There wasn’t Dad.”

“You can’t know that,” the Sheriff returned quickly, though he was shaking a little. It really was too early for this kind of conversation.

“Mom would never cheat on you and whether you believe it or not, Talia Hale wouldn’t never step out on her husband. It wouldn’t have happened.”

“Stiles I want to believe that and I mostly do but you were too young to even know what was going on there and you’re just distracting me. I saw Derek when you were in the hospital, I have seen him since and I understand that you are friends or something. Don’t think you are going to get away with buying anything he could possibly provide.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “That guy is not fun enough to try and buy booze, drugs or cigarettes for underage teens. Trust me.” Though he was going to be teaching them to fight, how to survive in Beacon Hills and so on, maybe that’s not exactly what his father meant but he wouldn’t be buying Stiles any illicit substances for sure. Who had time for that right now anyway?

“Not the point Stiles,” his dad barked, frustrated to the max. Stiles nodded and started cleaning up the table. Then his Dad started talking and Stiles didn’t know why he was speaking but he didn’t stop or move either. “Your mother loved it here, she went to college in New York then came right back here and they weren’t friends then but somewhere along the way it was her home away from home. I guess—maybe I don’t want to lose the only family I have left to another Hale.”

Stiles slumped ungracefully into the chair at the table again and stared at his father for a second, just dumbfounded. “Dad?” he whispered, “You’re not going to lose me just because I am friends with Derek Hale.”

His dad looked at him, sad and resigned, “You ran away from home a couple of times that year before the fire, always to the Hale house and Talia would bring you home, sometimes her husband but it was like they were the better family to you when you were little. You were always drawn to them, just like her.”

Stiles reached out and gripped his dad’s hand gently, “Will you always be here for me? Will you listen even if I sound crazy? Even if I tell you things you may not want to hear?” Stiles asked in a strangled whisper.

“Yes of course, Stiles that’s not even in question.”

“Then you are not going to lose me, we might just need to have more than a few awkward conversations.”

“My favorite,” his dad responded sarcastically and Stiles chuckled. There was another pause then he spoke, “I don’t want you to get fixated on fixing Derek so you don’t have to worry about yourself okay?”

Stiles sat in silence, wondering how much of his memory had been compromised by grief and trauma, the dream had given him an inkling but not much more than time with Scott and late night pickups from other deputies because his dad couldn’t do it. He got up, mostly because he didn’t know what to say, to retrieve a glass of milk. He pulled the half gallon from the fridge and put it down on the counter. “You didn’t want me to help him after the fire because you thought I wouldn’t deal with losing mom?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Stilinski responded with a shrug and he wondered how they even got here. His dad looking deeply uncomfortable with the way this conversation was shifting and Stiles started shaking because he didn’t know how to deal with the death of his mother, had never really learned to live without her.

“Dad, we hardly ever talk about her, after she died or now. How could I have possibly worked through any of how I was feeling when you spent the first year after she died in a bottle?”

His dad stared at him, open mouthed with shock. Stiles could understand the reaction, he was flabbergasted as well since they didn’t discuss this. His dad let him fuss about the food, refused him curly fries and diner food but never, never had they ever talked about the first year after she died when the McCall’s had raised him, when his dad should have tossed himself into the drunk tank. When Stiles had been the parent more than his dad had been. He’d locked up, alone, every night and walked himself to the bus stop. He’d been the one to get himself up for school when he went. And they never discussed things like that, but he figured then again if his dad was going to call out Stiles’ bad coping mechanisms then he deserved a fair trade on that. He’d needed his father all those years, he’d needed his father to let his son to talk it out and that didn’t happen. They both walked down this particular path together and Stiles figured that he had just as much right to care about his dad as his dad had to care for him after all this time.

Stiles wished that he could give up all of the things that his dad saw as bad coping mechanisms but he would still have to run off with Scott, he would still have to research and everything and now he would have to do it without the chemical boost of Adderall. They were the Stilinski’s they just kept moving forward and he had broken the unwritten rule. The sad thing was, calling out his father’s past actions did nothing to take the spotlight off of his misbehavior but then again, Stiles was always going to be impulsive, most of the time he didn’t think things through before he said or did them. The days of his dad shaking his head and saying nothing about what Stiles did were obviously over if he is going to shake out the cobwebs on what his father had done and maybe they were better off but right now he couldn’t deal with any of it. Stiles put everything down on the counter again, breakfast forgotten and grabbed his phone, bag and shoes and headed out the door as he gasped out, “I’m sorry Dad.”

As he walked quickly towards his vehicle, Stiles rubbed his head and groaned. He didn’t know what was going on, it was the same thing with the kiss. He had this reaction or this truth inside of him and it just burst free without his permission. He’d always had trouble with filtering but this was ridiculous. He thought for a second that maybe he was going crazy, incapable of stemming the emotions he’d been ignoring for so long and the introduction of the supernatural into his life shook a lot of it loose.

He started the jeep and before he could put the car into gear, he slammed his palm into the wheel and grunted, “Fuck! Stellar job there Stilinski!” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and gripped the device in his hands, trying to make himself stop shaking but it didn’t work. He stabbed out a quick message to Scott, saying he was on his way to pick the werewolf up and to be ready.

Scott responded quickly, agreeing to his terms. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to get to the McCall house and Scott was on the curb waiting so he climbed into the jeep and they continued on the way to school. It took a few minutes for Stiles to remember that he was fighting with Scott for his horrid timing in disappearing with Alison the day of the parent-teacher conferences. Scott had been texting him constantly for the past couple of days and he hadn’t reached out at all, he hadn’t talked to him either. He was glad that his dad was doing better, and he wasn’t angry at Scott like he had been but now was not the time to talk about any of it, this was about him right now.

He just needed his best friend more than he needed to be angry at him.

“I still hate you, ya know,” Stiles said and Scott flinched, any other person would have missed it but Stiles believed in the pack bonds better than any other human might because he and Scott had been around each other long enough to read each other and to share something of a superficial bond. Stiles could definitely read him better than Alison, he thought uncharitably.

“I know,” his puppy friend responded, “Can I ask how your dad is doing?”

Stiles winced right back, “He’s doing better. He didn’t break any ribs; his shoulder was dislocated and sore but healing. Which I decided to derail by having a freak out this morning.”

“What do you mean?” the werewolf asked, his brown eyes not leaving the side of Stiles’ face even as he kept his eyes on the road.

“So I guess you need to know this other thing first because I did something stupid last night and it involves you and Derek.”

“What did you do Stiles?” he asked loudly.

“I found out there was a good chance that the alpha is Peter Hale, Derek’s uncle. I did the research, got his records from the long-term facility as well as the information about the fire. It was too much of a coincidence but I didn’t want to take it all to Derek until I had more proof than a gut feeling and possible connections. I confronted Peter in the long-term facility where he’s at currently, I was trying to get some kind of response and I got one. He’s the alpha and I know and he knows I know so there’s that.”

Scott stared at him in open-mouthed awe/disgust/terror then punched the dashboard, causing the jeep to screech in pain, Stiles gave a full body wince.

“Hey now, be nice to the jeep, she didn’t do anything to you!” he shouted even as Scott’s breathing changed, quickened in an extremely recognizable fashion, a long-lost memory from the painful parts of his childhood. Stiles pulled the jeep over, despite the fact that they were only about a minute away from the school and pressed a hand to Scott’s shoulder. “Breathe in, one long breath. Make you ridiculously awesome gut look fat, just for me.” Stiles batted his eyes at his friend who chuckled a little and worked through the breathing exercise for a few minutes, putting his hand on his stomach to be sure that’s where he would feel the air expanding the space. Stiles had a moment of gratitude for remembered some of the techniques his doctors and counselors had taught him when he was younger and having panic attacks at every turn.

“You unbelievable idiot!” Scott finally gasped out, and Stiles grasped his chest in mock offense.

“It’s part of my charm,” he said with a negligent shrug and a grin.

“Well your charm is going to get you killed!”

“Can’t argue with you there.”

“And? I feel there’s an ‘and’ coming.”

Stiles grinned, “You know me so well.”

“Stiles,” his friend admonished. They may not do the whole range of emotions all the time but Scott knew deflection when he heard and saw them.

“I told my dad this morning that we never worked through my mom’s death. That instead he just fell into a bottle and we all know my coping mechanisms aren’t the greatest. He has called me out on them too, saying that I was going to have to learn some new methods.”

Scott face palmed and Stiles turned back and started driving again. They were going to have to get to class soon anyway. He was sure Scott was going to make this about him in a minute, whatever was happening in the werewolf world and Stiles wanted to help him, he didn’t want to see his best friend fall prey to the beast that turned him and hurt Derek.

In surprising turn, though Scott asked, “What the hell is going on with you?” his tone didn’t sound angry or rude, just confused and worried. He sounded sad, like this was something he had seen coming a long time ago and the only thing that didn’t make any sense was that it was happening now.

Stiles felt the out of place anger rise in him, feeling at the mercy of the wave as he parked the jeep, got out and headed towards school. Scott was right on his ass just like any well-meaning friend would do. “Hey! What did I say? You can’t keep walking away from me!”

“Why not Scott? You’ve walked away from me more times than I can count since you were turned!” he paused, taking a deep breath and answering the question angrily. “You know, I wish I knew what the hell was going on with me but I don’t. I know that my best friend is suddenly different in ways I can’t comprehend most days and I kissed a guy. A dark broody, angry and amazingly hot guy that has completely blown Lydia freaking Martin out of my mind but it’s like I’m not really gay so I have no idea what or who I am and now… Now I am opening up a host of old wounds that I am not really ready to deal with! What the actual fuck!”

Scott looked around the courtyard but Stiles just groaned and started walking again, he hadn’t said anything that would be outing his best friend as the supernatural creature he now was but it did out himself and all of his crazy. There were a few people pausing in their morning routine to check him out in his school-side meltdown but he didn’t really care. The nice thing about barely being a blip on the radar of high school is that no one cared that he was having an existential crisis and screaming about it in front of the school building wasn’t going to change that.

They headed inside, Scott was silent for a long time as they went to each of their lockers and Stiles just went to his first class without his best friend. He would see him again in second period and they could talk about Scott’s problems then. The full moon was racing them down and he may not have been supernatural but he could feel Scott’s rising discomfort. He knew that Scott wasn’t getting enough practice with Derek to be ready for it, to be ready to fight against Peter’s control.

Right on track Scott sat down behind him in English and whispered, “Derek wants me to stay away from Alison, he says the only way to control the shift is through anger. Are you going to help me with this?”

Stiles rolled his eyes because right on cue this was again about Allison freaking Argent and Scott getting to date her! He knew it was coming, it didn’t make it any less painful that the supernatural concerns of his best friend apparently took precedence and to be on the safe side, it had to but it still sucked, “When are you meeting him?”

“After work tonight, he’s picking me up from Deaton’s place.”

“Then we can work on it during free period.”

Scott grinned, “Thanks bro.”

“Just stop disappearing because of the pretty girl, you have a responsibility to more than her now.”

“Understood,” Scott grumbled miserably though he did it with a shrug and a roll of his eyes.

Stiles turned around, thinking about what Scott had said to him as he sat down, “He thinks anger is the key?”

His friend nodded.

“Well don’t let me act as though I know more than the born you-know-what but every time you get angry you try and kill someone, mostly me.”

“That’s why he doesn’t know if he can teach me at all.”

“Okay well let me think about this and come up with something different, we have the day to test a couple theories.”

Free period came and went, Stiles hitting Scott with lacrosse balls while he focused on his heart rate with the help of his misappropriated heart monitor and Scott coming to the forlorn conclusion that Allison makes him weak which Stiles is pretty sure is stupid and incorrect. He understands that Derek was born this way and he learned a certain way but Stiles was unwilling to believe that the only way to have control was through anger. It made perfect sense that Derek had only ever had power through anger because grief and pain were debilitating and from what Scott shared with him on the field was that the stronger the anger, the stronger his body felt and was. The anger that Derek felt would have made him feel powerful enough survive the loss, to survive anything or anyone that kept coming for him. Stiles didn’t begrudge him the control he needed but he didn’t think that was the only one.

Watching Scott being berated by Coach and Alison calming him down was another puzzle piece which Stiles quickly shared with Scott outside of class, “It’s her.”

“What?”

“I don’t think she makes you weak, I think she brings you back. Like an anchor to hold you in your humanity, I don’t think you should stay away from her.”

“Because I love her,” Scott said and Stiles grinned because whether or not they were in the midst of crazy supernatural shit, his best friend had never been in love before.

“Yes.”

“Did I just say that?” his love-struck friend asked.

“Yup,” he responded. He was happy for his best friend but they had bigger looming problems than the hunter’s daughter, “Before you go off to write sonnets, why don’t we figure this out.”

“Oh yeah,” Scott agreed and they continued walking.

Stiles thought about the times that Scott had gotten into trouble with the change and cross examined the information with what he knew about the times that Scott came back, without pain because that seemed to be across-the-board with the werewolves. Pain keeps you human but the other times, it was always Allison, Scott not wanting to hurt her or be found out by her. He paused in the hall and grinned.

“Oh no, you have an idea, don’t you?”

“Oh yeah,” Stiles responded as he started ticking through the possibilities.

“Is this going to get me in trouble?” his friend asked.

“Maybe but I probably will too,” he said in comfort as he slapped Scott on the shoulder.

“Is it going to cause me physical pain?” Scott then asked and Stiles laughed and nodded as he led them off to get into more trouble and to get Stiles a little resolution.

 

Derek walked towards his Camaro and looked around, he was heading back to the warehouse after checking to make sure Stiles was at school, he’d been lucky enough to catch sight of him and Scott on the lacrosse field and Stiles was chucking balls at Scott. Derek chuckled, thinking that he was going to have to ask what Stiles’ rationale was for that choice and how he’d convinced Scott that it was for his own benefit. He was going to be back at the school later since Scott was going to be going to work and leaving Stiles alone, that wasn’t going to happen as long as Derek had a choice. He thought about the days coming till the full moon and thought, he needed to end this but Peter is the alpha and without help, Derek wasn’t going to have the strength to stop him, maybe with Scott’s help if he could get the kid ready. If Peter got a hold of Stiles, he didn’t think they would be able to save him so they only had protection and preemptively making sure that the spastic teen didn’t get nabbed.

He drove off towards the other side of town, heading towards the warehouse, keeping an eye on the roads in front and behind him, taking a chance and driving all the way through as he didn’t see any of the Argent vehicles. He pulled up to the end of the warehouse and tucked his car inside neatly, pleased with the work that Stiles had done to make sure that he would easily be able to open the door and close it without having to get out of the car. It wasn’t an official garage door opener, it looked more like something Stiles cobbled together, but it worked and it was just another gesture the teen had done for Derek and he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Stiles didn’t have any designs on him then, he would have scented it. Desire and arousal were scents that everyone had, something that was easily recognizable but it had been absent when they’d spent time together otherwise Derek would have ended things immediately.

The kiss, that was a different story and Derek still didn’t know what to do with it except trust that Stiles had no intention of forcing any sort of attention on him and he hadn’t, in fact he’d been more than willing to stop spending time together completely. It had been up to Derek to bridge the gap and this was just a good time to end the separation. He shut off the Camaro and closed the large door then stopped up short as he took a deep breath.

“Derek, so this is where you’ve been hiding out,” her voice slithered across his shoulders and down his back and he shifted immediately, his teeth lengthening and his claws extending as he crouched and turned. Kate Argent stood there, hip cocked and a gun resting in her hands and pointed in Derek’s general direction. The door was closed; she must have slipped in as it was closing. How she got in didn’t really matter, the only thing that did was surviving this so he could protect Stiles and Scott. Kate wasn’t going to be the death of them too.

“No back up?” he growled the question, the teeth making him words slur a tiny bit.

“I don’t need it for you my sweet,” she returned, crooning at him. Derek backed up another step as his heart rate spiked and he tried desperately to reign in the fear he was starting to drown in at the sight of her. There was no other way to describe it, she’d destroyed his family, she’d made him love her and made him believe that she loved him. That was the scariest part of her being back, not that she would do it all over again, there was no one left after all… except Peter, and now Stiles and Scott but maybe she would try again and use the old methods to destroy what little there was left of him.

With that thought he turned off the rabbiting in his ribcage and with some slow breathing exercises he pushed all the fear and the feelings down as deep as they would go while she walked towards him. He shifted and moved around the warehouse, knowing the space better than she had a hope of knowing and he would use anything to his advantage to survive, he asked “How did you find me here?”

She tutted, “Now now, family secret.”

Derek stumbled inside his jacket pocket for his phone, shoved his finger across the screen though he didn’t know what he was trying to do. He tugged it out just as she fired and hit him across the shoulder with buckshot. Derek spun and fell, screaming though some small part of his brain realized that they were just regular bullets, they would hurt and take time to heal but it wouldn’t kill him so he bit down on his lip, making it bleed to bring himself under control so he could keep fighting. He dragged the phone in front of him and almost pushed on Stiles’ contact but he couldn’t. Derek wouldn’t bring him here to her. She would only assume that he was the beta and might kill him on the spot but maybe he could get her to say something, maybe something he could use against her. He pushed on the button to record, darkened the screen and shoved it back into his jacket pocket then threw the jacket off and towards the train car. Hopefully the recording would pick her up and he would try to stay close to it as he fought. Kate was laughing as she sauntered over, pulling back on the shotgun to load it again. The sound of the barrel loading was harsh and loud in the silence of the warehouse.

“Poor boy, I do love to hurt you,” she hissed at him.

“Like Laura?” Derek grumbled, wondering even now if Peter was capable of doing what Stiles had said. He didn’t know how to live with that but he would, like everything else but maybe if he could keep Kate talking then he would have enough time to act.

“It’s true that she was cut in half and left for you to find her, little too Texas Chain Saw Massacre for me, I like fire. How about you Derek?”

He growled at her but ignored the dig because it was just another distraction, “Are you saying you didn’t kill her?” he asked as he scooted back and then before he could even try anything, she whipped out a baton, flipped it to its full length and pressed it to his stomach and he couldn’t stop the cry, the aching pain from the electricity jolting through his body.

“Listen very closely to me Derek, I may have fucked you into the ground to get you complacent and _pumped_ you for information on your family, I may have set your home on fire and killed your whole pack but I did not kill your sister. None of the hunters did.”

Derek gulped back the need to snap his teeth at her despite the fact that he wasn’t shifted anymore. He had never heard what happened to him ever explained back to him and to have it done so coldly, he could barely stand it. He’d never said out loud what she did to him. His family had barely known about her, just enough that his mother didn’t approve. To have her say it like that—he shook, wanting to curl up and stop existing. He’d felt that way after the fire and Laura hadn’t let him give up, but now she was gone too. He hated himself for the weakness he’d portrayed and the way he’d given her to damage and kill them. Derek didn’t want to be the last Hale anymore.

“Just kill me,” he sobbed, sounding weaker than he ever remembered sounding in his life, “I don’t want to keep doing this. You have taken everything from me and I don’t want to be around just in case there is anything else you can take.” He didn’t dare think about Stiles and Scott, if she did kill him then they would be alone and Peter would hurt them but he couldn’t help the selfish desire to be done with all this, if she didn’t kill him then he would keep fighting but right now, he didn’t want to anymore.

Kate laughed then kneeled down next to Derek and he flinched away from her proximity then she was pressing a hand against his abdomen, holding him in place while she sent another jolt through his body and he wondered slowly how it didn’t shock her in the process, then again maybe it did and she was just crazy enough to like the pain. He arched into her hand which was now slipping lower until she was cupping him intimately through his jeans and nothing was responding to her touch. If anything, his penis was trying to shirk away from the touch of her hand, “You really did grow up in all the right places, what do you say. One more for the road?”

At this Kate put down the gun and the baton and tugged her shirt to the side and revealed her breast, moving across his thighs and rubbing the warmth and the V of her legs against him and Derek shuddered. “Oh yeah, baby you know you want this.”

He couldn’t let this happen again, he wouldn’t do this again. He took a deep breath and forced himself out of the freeze mode. Derek shoved her hand away and pushed her backwards, surging up and over her. He shifted as he moved and roared in her face, wondering if the sound would echo out and call to his pack or maybe they were too young to know what it would mean though it didn’t matter as he shouted at her. “NO! Don’t you fucking touch me! Do you hear me! Don’t ever touch me again!” He pressed his claw tipped hand down on her throat, looking for enough strength to keep fighting even as the shotgun pellets were making their way out of him and the electricity was seeping out of his cells, one slow second at a time.

Derek looked down at her while he squeezed her throat, she just smiled at him and arched her body into his and Derek couldn’t stop the desperate need to move away and stop touching her. He recoiled automatically in a desperate need to not touch her again. He pulled back and punched her hard enough to stall her then scuttled away, glad that he’d been in touch enough to pull in his claws. Scaring her wasn’t the point here, getting her away and off of him was. He grabbed the jacket from the ground, feeling to make sure the phone and keys inside the pocket. Derek watched as she shook off the pain and laughed, he took a second to wonder if she was as unhinged as she appeared and figured the answer was yes. She had shocked herself to shock him, and when he was choking her it was pleasurable instead of terrifying.

“What are you really here for? It clearly isn’t to kill me,” Derek growled, shaking his shoulder as a few of the pellets hit the floor, clattering and bouncing in the silence between them, only minutely shared by their rapid breathing. The blood smeared across his skin and it was starting to itch a little, all a normal part of the accelerated healing but he was at least functional now.

“You can’t kill me can you? Good to know sweetie. I came to tell you that if you help us get the Alpha then we’ll leave you alone. He clearly killed your sister, who knows what else he’s doing but he’s going to be the death of you so just let us help and we’ll be on our way out.”

Derek thought about Allison and knew she was lying, the Argents’ were here to claim territory and he wasn’t going to fall for another one of her games. Fool him once shame on her, fool him twice…that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe he couldn’t kill her today but that meant very little with Peter being the alpha. He didn’t want Peter to hurt anyone else but her, Derek would cheer from the sidelines while Peter ripped her throat out.

“You want the Alpha, go fucking find him. It’s Peter Hale. I hope you do find him because all these deaths have just been the buildup to the main event in his revenge plot.”

Kate laughed, grabbing her gun and wand before she paused, froze in step and looked up. She clearly heard the second part before the first, “Peter Hale?” she asked.

“So you remember him then? My mother’s top Enforcer, he had a human wife who was pregnant in the house when it burned. He had only found out; her scent had changed and I have never seen him look happier. You sentenced him to listening to her die before he ran and survived, he listened and experienced the death of his Lupa. I have proof that its him and guess who he’s coming after?”

“Us. Me,” Kate whispered and she looked, maybe for the first time since she arrived in town, scared of what she’d done and what the consequences were going to be. None of the other Hale’s were supposed to survive and if any of them could have been the worst—that would be Peter because on the best of days he was a manipulative son of a bitch, willing to do anything to save his wife and family. Now, well now he was crazy to boot.

“He’s been waiting for your Kate Argent, and now you’re here. Good luck.”

She backed up, looking around like she expected the alpha to jump out at any time. She headed for the door and he figured now would be one of those amazing moments he always missed because he was too intensely in his head, “I may not be able to kill you but he will and he could take all of your family with you just like you did his and mine.”

Then she was gone and Derek collapsed to the floor, hating the fact that her scent was all over the place, the fear and the arousal both taking him back to that day and the things she’d said to him after it was all over and he stood and threw himself to the door, leaning out and vomiting in the dirt next to the building. He needed to move the Camaro, he needed to do something and get out of here. He needed to protect the other, protect Stiles. Peter wouldn’t go for Kate now; he would try to contain and control Scott and maybe recruit Stiles in the meantime or grab Jackson if he was transitioning.

Derek stumbled back to the Camaro, started it with a rumble and he headed to the hospital to park the car. From there he started walking towards Stiles’ house, worried about the fact that he was alone when he got a text. He pulled out the phone and saw Stiles’ name on a text and opened it quickly.

**‘Scott and I are at the school with civilians. Peter’s here and we are trapped. Help!’**

“Of course,” Derek husked, trying to battle down the fear that attempted to choke him at the thought of Peter stalking Scott and Stiles in the school. Peter was smart and he was crazy, he’d always been methodical and if he was hunting the teenagers then there was a damn good reason. He got back in the Camaro and headed towards the school, hoping he would get there in time to do something—anything. He wondered for a second about the fact that he didn’t have anyone to call to fight against Peter except maybe Chris Argent. Calling on a hunter to help him though felt like a great way to get them all killed. So he would just have to just figure it out when he got there.


	9. Failing Night School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Scott, trapped in the school with the alpha. Enter a ditzy-acting redhead, a nascent werewolf lacrosse jock and one innocent daughter of a hunter. How is Derek going to get them all out of this alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, say goodbye to canon people, we have seriously diverged straight into a slightly more unknown area of the woods, who knows what we are going to find.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always treasured!!! :)

Stiles sat stock still, staring at the top of Mr. Harris’s head and figured it was worth it, though Scott was going to get in trouble with Deaton for being late again.

Scott groaned next to him right on cue and said, “Excuse me, I know this is detention but I am going to be late to work and I don’t want to lose my job.”

Harris looked up at them for a minute then went back to working on the papers that were sitting in a neat little stack in front of him. He wondered if Harris had gotten to his ‘extra credit’ questions and answers yet. His dad had asked him to stop turning in extra assignments and he had for the most part but some of them had already been turned in while people like Harris, Stiles didn’t think he was ever going to give it up completely because he usually got so mad, with the flush in his cheeks and angry eyes when they had to search around for the correct answer to the question because there is a bunch of superfluous information floating in among the answers. It occurred to Stiles that at some point someone was going to fail him on a test for doing it, he was surprised that Harris hadn’t yet but he was just going to keep doing it for now. ADHD was an excellent excuse sometimes, especially when he was intelligent enough to mesh the real information in with the flotsam well enough that most of the teachers assumed he wasn’t doing it on purpose but those days were coming to an end for sure.

Scott sighed and turned to his best friend, “You knew I would heal?”

“Yeah,” Stiles returned.

“So you did what you did to teach me?”

“Yup,” Stiles said, picking at a hangnail on his middle finger as his friend spoke.

“But also to punish me?”

“Well yeah, I figured that would be obvious.”

“Come on man, you’re my best friend and I can’t have you hating me.”

He sighed, his shoulders hunching under the onslaught of sad Scott, he knew this morning that he didn’t hate Scott and couldn’t even if he wanted to. He was jealous, he was disappointed and scared but he didn’t hate his best friend. “I don’t hate you but what happened with my dad, while you were off being a normal teenager and leaving me with the suck-fest decisions and all the hard work, you got to knock that shit off.”

“Come on man, it was her birthday and she hates them.”

Stiles shifted his gaze, glaring Scott into cowed silence before continuing, “No Scott, you have something. You have a responsibility to others who don’t have the strength to protect themselves. You have a goddamned responsibility to me who is doing the hard work for you. How dare you leave me to make the choice about Lydia’s phone. It’s time to stop fighting the hard parts of this gift as Derek calls it. This thing was never going to be about being better at Lacrosse and getting the girl, I’m glad you did those things but stop leaving me with the flaming bag of shit part of this deal!”

He sighed again, “I know man, I will do something about all of it.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Stiles said with a shrug because he knew without the help of werewolf senses that Scott was depressed and guilty about what happened with the Sheriff so he trusted that his best friend was going to try.

“Okay you two. You might as well head out,” Harris said and started for the door. Scott and Stiles followed, watching as all the lights started to turn off and suddenly the remainders knocked off all at the same time, causing them to jump and Harris to squeal in the most memorable fashion, Stiles grinned at the thought of his teacher who really liked making his life a living hell sounded like a little girl when scared. Stiles turned and watched as the teacher clutched his satchel close to his chest but when he noticed Stiles watching, he straightened and sneered at him.

“What did you do, Stilinski?”

Stiles rolled his eyes, glad for the darkness that would keep his attitude private for the moment, the second he opened his mouth he was undoubtedly going to get another detention.

“We didn’t do anything sir,” Scott said instead, sounding like a perfectly respectful sophomore instead of the little shit he’d been planning to sound like. It really wasn’t his fault; sarcasm was his first defense in any given situation. When Scott had said earlier that he was familiar with the concept of sarcasm, they both knew why.

Before Harris could say anything else, there was a loud juddering boom and they all whipped back around to see a dark figure lunging through the front doors, landing with a skid towards them. “RUN!” Stiles shouted and they turned away from the creature, maybe the cops could pretend it was a bear when they spoke to Harris but both teenagers knew what it was.

It was Peter. Stiles thought about the best place but then figured that if Peter wanted this over then he wouldn’t let them get far before attacking so he stumbled to the side into one of the offices, because it would have locking capabilities and less windows. It was Coach’s office and there was another door into his classroom so Stiles rushed over and locked while Scott locked the door they came through and Harris stood in the corner farthest from the doors and shuddered.

“What the hell was that? I thought they caught the mountain lion!” the teacher exclaimed.

“Be quiet!” Stiles hissed as he listened for the sound of rushing feet and scraping claws, the deep breathing of a large creature running through the halls. There was nothing but after a little bit of time in this new world of theirs Stiles knew that didn’t mean anything. He knew more about werewolves than even Scott, because he was the token human who was around for all the crazy shit hitting the fan. He knew even the alpha would be able to move silently if he wanted to, he could even shift back since everyone knew his identity now though Peter was living with a few nuts and bolts loose or missing so he might just continue as the big hulking Alpha form.

“Don’t talk to me like that!” Harris snapped at his student but Scott just reached over, pushed Harris down to the ground and then pressed his finger to his lips in a ‘shhh’ gesture and Stiles patted his friend on the shoulder because they were in a piss-poor situation and though Scott was learning control, he was still volatile and getting angry at their least likeable teacher was not a good idea.

Stiles pulled his cell out of his pocket and tapped out a message to Derek and hit send before he could think too much about it. He pulled Scott aside and listened again to see if there was any movement outside the door but heard nothing, “Scott, I contacted Derek but I don’t know what’s going to happen when he gets here, even if he’ll get here quickly enough. We need to stash Harris and move if we can.”

Scott nodded, standing as close to the door without pressing against it and closed his eyes to focus his senses. Stiles glared at Harris when he shifted, opening his mouth to talk and the teacher must’ve seen his seriousness because he just closed his mouth again. Stiles turned back to Scott, pressing a hand to his friend’s arm before he waited quietly as well. Interestingly enough, the ADHD wasn’t buzzing at the back of his mind, he was still and quiet inside, terrified but still. He could think critically for the moment and they would need it, he moved to the table and grabbed a piece of paper and pencil and tried to think about the layout of the school, they were close to the staircase but he had no intention of playing the part of stupid buxom blonde number three in a horror flick and getting killed for it.

The silence was really only telling them one thing, that Peter was more than okay with playing the field, waiting for something but staying still wouldn’t necessarily keep them alive. He thought about the other hallway, it would lead out to the basement and then there was the locker rooms which were even less secure but the basement might offer some solutions or protection.

Fifteen minutes passed in silence and no attacks and Stiles gestured to Scott who whispered, “I don’t hear him. I don’t know what’s happening but he’s not anywhere near here. It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Scott I don’t think it’s going to,” Stiles whispered back wishing that Harris wasn’t here so they could actually converse without worrying about getting caught in the truth of their part in this ill-conceived death plot.

His friend nodded then he focused sharply on something only he could hear and then from far off Stiles heard something too. Scott frowned and looked at Stiles as his jaw dropped, “Oh god, I know that ringtone, its Allison.”

Stiles groaned and hissed quietly, “Of-fucking-course she’s here because that’s fucking perfect. Fuck my life!”

“Why would she be here?” Scott whined, concern and confusion harsh overtones in the silence of the school.

“Maybe he called her, who knows what she’s doing here but she’s here. Did you forget,” Stiles moved right next to Scott’s head and whispered, “Her family is one of the targets of Peter.”

“But not her!” Scott whispered.

“Of course her, she’s innocent and he lost his innocent unborn child,” Stiles said and watched as his werewolf friend’s face blanched in understanding. He unlocked the door and threw the door open and Stiles groaned as they walked out of the office and ran right into Derek who slapped a hand on both of their shoulders and shoved them back into the office again and closed the door again.

“Goddammit Stiles!” the Hale werewolf said and the teenager just rolled his eyes and gestured wildly at Scott as if to say ‘what about the love-struck moron?’

“Okay, I didn’t see it but I can feel its presence,” Derek said. Stiles coughed and hacked ineffectually as he gestured over his shoulder to where Harris was still sitting, curled into the smallest form possible. A part of Stiles wanted to tell the man that the alpha would be able to smell him, any sort of predator would be able to smell him and making himself smaller would only making his death all that easier. He did keep his mouth shut though.

“Allison is here!” the words burst out of Scott’s mouth and Stiles watched the other beta roll his eyes.

“Of course she is,” Derek muttered and Stiles refused to smile right now no matter how much he loved Derek’s response, wondering if the guy would appreciate knowing he’d said something very similar not that long ago. He knew it wasn’t the time but he’d missed Derek even though they hadn’t been separated by the accidental kiss for more than a week.

“I need to find her!” Scott snapped.

Derek tapped his ears then his nose subtly, “Them actually, Jackson’s car is out front and I have never seen that guy _without_ the redhead.” Stiles realized that tapping his nose had been some sort of signal, that it wasn’t just the car telling Derek who was here, it wasn’t just Allison but Lydia and Jackson as well. Scott clearly still needed some training but then again they had been stuck in this room since the alpha broke in.

“What are we going to do Der?” Stiles asked, now that the beta was here his heart was rabbiting in his chest and wondering how many things can go wrong, how would they possibly be able to get out if the alpha didn’t want to let them out. Harris would just be another sad casualty of this ridiculous revenge plot. If only Stiles hadn’t gone to Peter, if he hadn’t needed to prove he was worth something to Scott and Derek in the only way he knew how, with his brains which were undoubtedly going to be splattered all over the floor before the night was over.

“Stiles!” Derek barked harshly at him, bring the teenager back to the present where the werewolf was dragging one of Stiles’ hands over his wrist to press into the rhythm of Derek’s steady heartbeat and they took a deep breath together and the teen didn’t understand how they had both so quickly become attuned to each other. How was it that Derek knew that a steady rhythm would calm him down? Stiles just sank into the sensation of Derek’s pulse while the werewolf turned to Scott, “Get Stiles’ phone, find out where Allison and the others are at. I am going to get Harris out of here and keep Stiles with me. You have my number on his phone, so figure out where you need to go and let us know.”

Scott grabbed his friend’s phone while Stiles kept his hand on Derek’s wrist and kept his breathing normal. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to them.

“What for?” Scott asked.

“Because I had to stick my nose where it didn’t belong and here we are.”

“We were going to end up here in some way, Peter wants Allison and the rest of them. He’s coming for Scott no matter what. Now get yourself pulled together because we’ve got to get everyone out of here in one piece.”

Stiles nodded and took another deep breath and walked over to Harris, hunkering down in front of the man and whispered, “Are you ready to get out of here?”

The other man nodded and Stiles helped the man stand and Scott called Allison on the phone and found out she was in the pool area, Lydia and Jackson were waiting in the foyer. Stiles frowned and walked out of the office to look around the corner towards the exit, with Derek right behind him. Harris and Scott followed as well and Stiles took the chance, racing towards the door and hearing Scott and Derek cursing behind him. Scott needed to go find Allison but he didn’t want to see his semi-friend and ex-crush to get hurt. The hallway seemed so much longer than it should have been and he heard two sets of running feet behind him, figuring that Scott went after Allison.

“Stiles!” Lydia exclaimed as they came barreling around the corner, Jackson and Lydia standing just inside the foyer of the building and Stiles watched as Derek walked Harris out to his car and got the teacher out of here. Stiles grabbed Lydia and dragged her along to do the same.

“You shouldn’t be here right now!” he hissed at her because really, they didn’t have time to pretend she was the god’s gift to mankind at the moment.

“Take your hands off my girlfriend! Now!” Jackson shouted and Stiles winced as he looked around the lot, hoping that Scott was getting back to them as quickly as possible. He didn’t understand what the whole point of this was until he heard the howl and Derek hustled them back inside. “Derek? Is he coming?”

Derek nodded and stayed silent.

“Shit!”

“What was that? I thought the mountain lion was gone?” Lydia demanded.

“Don’t be stupid, it was never a mountain lion,” Jackson sneered and Stiles shook his head and headed off in the direction of the pools because the best thing they could do was be together if they weren’t getting out which apparently Peter wasn’t going to allow without bodies on the ground.

“Jackson, what do you remember from the other night? What did you actually see?” Stiles asked as he kept walking mostly to just see what he would say because they were all freaking out.

“Its none of your business!” the lacrosse jock stammered.

Stiles stopped and turned towards the guy and reached out to jerk up the shirt and rip off the bandage to show the unblemished skin, he lifted an eyebrow in question so Jackson just shoved him away. Derek stepped in between them, keeping Jackson from putting hands on Stiles again with a quick snarl which Jackson backed away from quickly, hands raised in surrender but with one of those sneers that says that he didn’t want to step back. Stiles pulled the last Hale away from the other teenager and they continued to walk, finding the way into the pool area only to find nothing and no one. It was dark here, the water reflecting up on the walls in wavering light, the only real light coming from the emergency lighting high up in the corners of the room.

“Gimme your phone Derek,” Stiles demanded and the older man glared at him as he handed over the device, which shouldn’t make Stiles as giddy as it did. He was so annoying to this man and yet he let Stiles just get away with it.

Stiles dialed his own phone number and listened as it rang over and over. “Come on Scott, pick up the damn phone!” he muttered to the ringing device. He waited impatiently, bouncing in place while Derek watched his back. Then Scott finally answered and Stiles stammered out, “Thank god Scott, where are you? I thought you were in the pool area?”

“Ah Stiles,” someone said through the line and Derek snapped around so fast Stiles winced at the movement, the voice was cultured and calm, almost without inflection and it sent shivers down his spine uncomfortably.

“Peter!” Derek shouted not that he had to since they were both werewolves with only one sarcastic scrawny human and a phone between them.

“Sweet nephew, I appreciate all you’ve done for my beta but I am done waiting. I am coming for all of you. I have a little surprise for you. Hope you like it. Stiles I am surprised with your intelligence and I would hate to see such a thing go to waste. What do you say to the Bite?”

“No!” Stiles snapped, glaring at Derek mostly because Peter was his uncle and he couldn’t glare at the alpha himself and Derek just kept watching him.

Peter laughed and Stiles almost dropped the phone at the sound, it was a hard and cold sound with a slight edge of hysteria to the sound a vicious reminder that this was no longer the same man that Derek even remembered, the fire had done something to him. He wasn’t who Derek remembered anymore, Stiles would guess especially with the look on Derek’s face and the teen shuddered in fear even as he attempted to stay calm as Peter continued. “Oh Stiles, let me be clear, you will either be turned or I will kill you along with any other person who gets in my way, including your father the Sheriff.”

Stiles growled and tried to ignore the personal jab/threat towards his father. Stiles would sooner allow himself to get bit then see his dad get hurt for Stiles’s stupidity but Peter didn’t need to know what a trigger that was for him, “Where’s Scott and Allison?” he demanded.

“Come and find them,” Peter said with a sinister laugh.

Then the phone went dead and Stiles stared at it, the screen shaking and shimmering for some reason. It took him longer than was strictly necessary to realize that he was crying. He held it out to Derek who took it and his hand at the same time. “I need you to focus Stiles; I need you to keep Lydia and Jackson calm while I try to find out where Scott and Allison are being held. There is no way that Peter could have taken them both. Just stay with me okay? This is a game and we are going to have to play and I’ve got to tell you Stiles, I suck at games. I can’t manipulate or lie to save my life anymore, could barely handle it before the fire. I was like Scott. I remember Peter, what he was like before and you are a lot like him so I am going to need you to play the game with me.”

“Scott,” Stiles choked out and Derek nodded while he pulled him in for a quick hug.

“I know, we’re going to get him back.”

The teen took a deep breath and held it for a minute, closing his eyes and imagining being somewhere else while Derek kept holding on to him. He thought long and hard enough to keep the focus on this moment but so he could be calm despite the terror swirling inside. He thought about being in his mother’s lap, her telling stories and his dad laughing. He thought about playing games with Scott, both of them bundled in his bed and screaming at the screen while they played some game and night like that seemed so far away now. He didn’t sit in the memory long enough to throw himself back into fear of losing Scott tonight, moving on to the times he’d spent with Derek at the warehouse, painting that ridiculous wolf on the side of his train car, talking about pack dynamics and watching Scott get his ass handed to him more than once. He continued on that particular thought process because it was filling him with the sense of purpose that was missing before. He was going to do this, being human didn’t mean he was worthless or less than! He didn’t need what Peter was threatening him with, he was Pack! Goddammit! It was time that everyone knew it.

“Good, your heartrate is steady again now I need you okay Stiles?”

He nodded, opened his eyes and looked over to where Jackson was standing and staring at them while Lydia swayed from foot to foot in anxiety and fear, her high heels must not be very comfortable. How could she wear those things? Why didn’t she take them off? Stiles shook off the questions before they wound him up again. He walked over to them and asked, “How are you two doing?”

“I don’t understand what’s happening!” Lydia squeaked and Jackson rolled his eyes unsympathetically and Stiles couldn’t stop the thought that _this_ was the person they were going to have to bring into their lives because he was a werewolf. He was such an amazing asshole and if being a werewolf turned one of the sweetest, morally stuck-up people that Stiles had ever known into a selfish tool sometimes, he didn’t see how this was going to end well for any of them. He was glad that Jackson wasn’t going to die from the Bite but now they were going to be stuck with him and he was going to be even more of a liability to this town. Stiles didn’t think Beacon Hills could handle douche Jackson Whittmore as an untrained creature of the night.

If they all survived the night.

Maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about it after all.

“Okay, well I don’t know what the hell to say except the truth right now,” Stiles sighed then looked over to Derek who was ignoring them, Jackson would need to know and he sort of suspected already. The only reason Lydia wasn’t already on board was thanks to a big heaping bowl of denial with a side of anti-psychotics from her doctor.

“What were we even running from? It looked like a big bear!” Lydia asked and Stiles looked around, wondering if they could make it to another location in the school, something safer or at least with less entry and space for a big hulking alpha to swoop in or attack from.

“It wasn’t a bear, something weird is going on here and it’s been going on since that idiot Scott got onto First Line! Are you going to tell me what it is?” Jackson sneered at Stiles.

“It’s the same thing that bit you, what do you think it is?” Stiles demanded and Jackson halted. Lydia shivered and squeaked, unable to control her fear despite everything she tried to have control over. Stiles leaned in close, “I can’t keep the secret and keep you alive so you’re coming into the fold of this insanity but if you think that you are going to use this to hurt Scott or Derek in some way, just remember that I will do whatever I can to protect them both and I can easily figure out all the ways to hurt you, physically, fashionably and maybe even with your status at school.”

Jackson snorted though he didn’t look like he _didn’t believe_ that Stiles was capable of it so the human figured that was the best he was going to get.

Lydia nodded, “What about the sheriff’s station, can’t your dad help?”

Stiles shook his head, “He doesn’t know and I am not inviting him and the deputies to the school to become puppy chow for the supernatural baddy out there.”

“Come on Stilinski, they have guns and numbers. We have neither!” Jackson shouted and Derek turned and growled at the jock, his eyes flashing blue in the darkness and both of the teenagers took a huge step away from the werewolf while Stiles rolled his eyes and walked over to Derek. He wouldn’t have a problem with calling his dad, in fact he really wanted him right now but they’d seen what it would take to drop a beta and this was a crazy Alpha with hostages.

“What are you getting?”

“Besides a headache from dealing with too many people?” Derek snarled at the other two teens.

“Come on Derek,” Stiles pleaded, reaching out and pressing his hand into the werewolf’s arm and though he didn’t think that Derek would approve, he felt the older man’s shift into the touch. Stiles might not be able to hear things a mile away or smell emotions but he knew enough about Derek at this point to say that the beta needed physical touch more than anything, especially just the lazy companionship and though it might make Stiles a little crazy sometimes, the werewolf deserved to be okay. He kept contact as Derek answered.

“Scott and Allison are both still in the building but I don’t think they are together,” Derek said, leaning in close to speak to him.

“What does that mean?” Stiles whispered as he continued to ignore the two Populars. He wanted to pace but he figured if he started now he wouldn’t be able to stop and Derek needed him to stay level headed right now, they both needed it. Derek knew what his Uncle was like before and if that meant that Stiles would be better prepared to at least help play the game then he would do it then run away screaming if they made it out of the school alive.

“Maybe he tied one of them up somewhere, holding the other. We don’t know much except Peter is out there and he has the upper hand. We don’t have anything to fight with.”

Stiles paused and thought about that, sure there wasn’t going to be very much but there might be something they could use. “What about sporting equipment? Maybe we can find baseball bats or Lacrosse sticks and maybe we would have enough to have a fighting chance!”

Derek nodded then flicked his gaze over to Lydia and Jackson where she was on the phone, Stiles reluctantly released Derek’s arm and walked over to her with every intention of finding out who she was calling but Jackson just shoved him away, “Don’t even think about it Stilinski!”

“Hello, help us, there is someone keeping us inside the school, trying to kill us. Hello? What?” Lydia stammered to a stop then stared at the phone, “She hung up on me. There was a call early tonight, saying there would be prank calls coming from the school.”

“Call your dad!” Jackson shouted in Stiles’s face, lunging forward as he did so.

Stiles reached back and just as Jackson would have been in range of a tackle, he landed a punch along the other teen’s temple and he hit the ground. Lydia rushed over to her boyfriend exclaiming, “What the hell Stiles!”

“I am not letting my dad die because you both are idiots! Now you can help me here or shut the fuck up!”

“Self-Igniting Molotov Cocktail!” Lydia exclaimed quickly and Stiles frowned.

“What?”

“We need something to fight right? Yeah, sure we might find some weapons in the locker room or the gym but right here in this end of the school is everything you need to make a Self-igniting Malatov Cocktail. It’s going to be in the science lab. We go and make some and set the son of a bitch on fire.”

“Now that’s going to be helpful,” Stiles said, clapping his hands and Derek glared at him so he sobered and turned to walk out of the pool area. He could hear as Derek followed behind, Jackson and Lydia following as well and they made it safely to the science lab and Lydia went to work making a couple of jars of something that was going to set Peter on fire. It didn’t escape Stiles’ notice that their best defense was going to end up being the thing that almost kill him the first time but he was willing to hit Peter with everything he had to keep them all alive and to get Scott and Allison back safely.

“Stiles,” Derek asked quietly as Lydia was finishing up, explaining the process in depth in front of Jackson who was staring at her in shock.

“What?”

“I am going to take one of those jars and I am going to find out what’s going on. You have one of their phones so give me mine so we can talk to each other easily.”

Stiles handed over the cell phone then grabbed the first of the beakers before walking back over to the closed door. Derek was right behind him and they stood close together in front of the door, just waiting and Stiles couldn’t help but be comforted by the heat coming off of Derek in waves. When the werewolf nodded, Stiles held the jar out and felt when the beta’s fingers slid along his subtle as they passed it off. Stiles stood there for a second then leaned forward to hug Derek tightly to him, feeling when Derek’s hand came around and gripped him back awkwardly. Stiles pressed his cheek into the side of Derek’s head and whispered, , “Be careful. Don’t let Peter get into your head okay? If you die I am going to be so pissed!”

Derek patted Stiles on the back, hand still clutching at the phone in his palm. Then shoved his head into the side of Stiles in a strangely feline gesture though Stiles knew what it was. Derek was scent-marking Stiles, something that werewolf packs did to each other. Touching and scent were all part and parcel of the werewolf family. Then Derek pulled away and the shimmer of tears in the older man’s eyes were enough to make Stiles hate Peter for a whole new host of reasons then Derek pulled himself together, shutting down his emotions and spoke, “Stay here with them and keep them alive. Keep yourself alive long enough for me to get back and help you out of here.”

Stiles stared at the other man then took a real honest to god chance, pressing a hand to the back of Derek’s neck in comfort. Derek accepted it with a momentary flinch then he was gone again even as a howl rent the air, scaring them all. Stiles pressed his hands over his ears as the sound reverberated off the walls and shook the building, he wondered why Peter was howling if he already had Scott, though he could very well be calling to Derek and Jackson too. Stiles groaned as the howl stopped and he looked over to see that Jackson was shoving himself up against the opposing wall and pressing hands into his ears. It was getting to him too, that was for sure. Lydia was pressing a loving hand into the side of Jackson’s arm but she was staring at Stiles. He held out his hand and Lydia immediately gave him her phone and he dialed his father because though he had no desire to get his dad into the middle of this, he needed to be able to say goodbye if that was all he was going to get. Despite the fact that he was a lowly little human or whatever and Scott was supposed to be Batman here, Stiles was going to do to make sure that Lydia and Jackson made it out of here alive and unchanged even if that meant it was going to be the end of who he was at the moment.

“Hey Dad,” he started then realized it was his dad’s voicemail so he sighed and started over, “Of course it’s your voicemail because this is my life. I know you are busy but there is a problem here at the school. Be careful out there Dad and I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything I could have, I could have tried harder and made you listen.”

Jackson snorted, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Stiles sighed.

“You’re saying goodbye, apparently, you think we aren’t making it through the night.”

“Maybe so, maybe not but it wasn’t going to keep me from saying that I love my dad one more time, plus I never get that mushy on the phone, I don’t really get that mushy ever so he’ll read between the lines. He’s going to know and come for us. He’ll probably die, thanks to me but then again this whole thing is going to end up being on me anyway.”

“Pity party much,” Jackson snorted and Stiles gripped his hands into fists, trying to hold off on the suddenly violent desire to throttle the other teenager.

“So is that the guy?” Lydia asked coyly because of course the immediately doom and gloom/action thriller story they were in wasn’t enough to make her forget what he’d told her a few days ago.

Jackson frowned at his girlfriend while Stiles tried to figure out what the heck he was supposed to say to that. He didn’t want his sexual confusion to be all over the school and the world, and if Jackson got much more information then he would have enough to make some inferences and spread rumors about him.

“That’s Derek, a friend of mine.”

“Uh huh,” she said and handed him one of the beakers and Stiles took it with a nod and they were left to wait, he figured it was time to start to break the news about Beacon Hills and the kind of supernatural creatures that lived here, all they had was time anyway.

 

Derek didn’t want to tell Stiles what he thought was really happening, why Scott and Allison weren’t together. They had already seen that the alpha was willing to pull on Scott’s strings to get what he wanted and now that he knew it was Peter, the tactic fit his uncle better than he liked to believe. There had been plenty of times when the man had been more than willing to lie, manipulate and finagle anyone he needed to do it to, so he could achieve whatever mission he thought was necessary. Since he was an Enforcer, much of it had to do with the pack but as Talia’s brother and another possible choice for alpha he struggled with the fact that Derek’s mother was the next to take on the mantle of Hale Alpha. It had been a constant undercurrent for all of them, the succession of the Hale alpha lineage. For some like Peter, they wanted it desperately and for others like Laura, she had only taken it because it had chosen her in that moment of their mother’s demise. Neither remaining child had even known that their mother had put a plan of succession in place until that happened because he had been too busy picking up pretty girls, playing basketball and ignoring his younger siblings, while Laura had been trying to get into college on a mediocre academic history with barely any electives or activities to pad her transcript.

And now here he was, alone and about to find his uncle, the same one he believed to be forever beyond his grasp and he wasn’t going to be the same man he once knew and loved albeit with a whole lot of caution. He wished he could enjoy the truth but it wasn’t enough anymore, he had others who were depending on him to lead them no matter how much he wanted to just be not alone, to not be the only Hale. That wasn’t his story now.

He headed towards the first rabbiting heartbeat, it was off in another direction, away from the science lab and he remembered enough about the high school to recognize the way to the gym as he got closer and pushed through the doors, seeing a figure tied to a chair in the center of the court.

It was Allison, her eyes wet and red, confused and terrified. She had a gag shoved in her mouth and there was a clear black eye developing as well as a welt down the side of her face. She didn’t seem to be disoriented thankfully but being hit in the head was rarely good for anyone and he wondered if Peter was still aware enough to actually regulate his strength and since Allison was an Argent, who knew if he even wanted to. Derek held up a hand, trying to show her that he wasn’t here to hurt her as he looked around the large open space, keeping a keen eye and nose for Peter. He opened his senses but something was skewing them, maybe it was one of the hunter traps that Argent had a tendency to put all over town or it was possible that Peter had enough control over himself that he could at least mask his scent and location but he walked towards Allison, getting close enough to smell the blood and focused on the girl again.

“Shit!” he whispered when he saw the faint outline in blood on the teenage girl’s shirt, it was damp but not bleeding profusely. She needed some medical care but if she survived the bite it wouldn’t be because of the hospital; it would be because her parents didn’t find out. He knew all about hunter’s and their desperate desire to not become wolves.

“That’s right nephew,” Peter whispered as he appeared out of a dark corner of the room. Derek stepped between Allison and Peter, though the damage was done and there was nothing any of them could do now. He knew the kind of code the Argent family had, the same ones that many hunters had.

“Peter,” Derek whispered, his heart pounded painfully against his chest while he tried to maintain control over his reaction all the while he desperately wanted to hug Peter or strangle him. He wasn’t the last Hale after all, he wasn’t alone and yet… “You shouldn’t have done this, she was innocent. Jackson and Scott did not give consent; the Bite is a gift Peter and you’ve made it a punishment for her and her aunt and a way to enslave these teenagers for your revenge plot!”

Allison cried out behind him but Derek refused to be distracted from his uncle. There were no burns, he’d been hiding his recovery somehow in the long-term unit and now he here was, physically unscathed. He’d missed the other man so much in the past six years mostly because he was family and he’d been just as unreachable as his mother but it had been so much harder knowing he was here in Beacon Hills and not here at all. They had been much closer in age than Peter was with his siblings so they’d more than uncle and nephew, something closer to friends though as Derek got older he’d been able to see the way Peter enjoyed playing people, including his family so he’d started keeping his distance. That was until he’d met his wife, and that was why Derek had no hope of trusting his uncle now because this wasn’t his uncle Peter anymore. This was a werewolf who’d lost his Lupa, the woman he’d held a strong bond with. It wasn’t a small thing, being in love with a werewolf didn’t mean everything was easy but Peter had told him all the times when having his beautiful wife close by had made life all the better and he’d wanted it and waited for it. He wished that it had been Kate then it wasn’t. He’d lost his child and here he was now, doing harm with something they were born with, something they were taught to respect and desire. This wasn’t his uncle anymore, just a sick twisted shadow of the man he once knew. A twisted shadow that Derek could have empathy for but that wouldn’t keep him from fighting what he was doing here.

“Derek, you do understand that they killed your mother and father, they killed everyone in the house that night, including your younger brothers! How can you not want revenge?”

Allison grunted loudly, she was shifting in her restraints but he could tell that she wasn’t trained to do this, she was innocent! Yes she was an Argent but she’d clearly been shielded from this so far in her life, “You know what they’ll do to her?”

Peter grinned, a toothy expression that was more wolf than human, “Yes.”

Derek choked on the knowledge that Peter was so pleased with himself in his revenge plot, that he was willing to get a seventeen-year-old girl killed by her own family to soothe the anger and rage within him. He crouched a little and shifted, growled at his uncle and knowing that there was a chance he wasn’t coming out of this then his claws clinked and scratched at the beaker in his hands and he looked down in surprise, having forgotten about it after the shock of actually coming face to face with his uncle, thankfully he hadn’t dropped the darn thing because it was something that Peter wouldn’t expect.

Peter.

The alpha.

The alpha that started all of this with the death of Laura.

He tilted the liquid inside, watching it swish and looked over to his uncle, “You burned once, Uncle Peter, would you like to do it again? I don’t want to see this or do this but you’ve gone too far and your father and my mother would be so disappointed in you about this. Don’t do this.”

Peter watched his nephew, eyebrow raised in question. “Your mother and my father are dead! Imagine what you could do if you owned the desire in your heart to carry out the revenge owed to us after the fire. Why don’t you want them dead just as much as me?” Peter paused, looking down at his hands. “So what have you got there Derek? Something the little redhead cooked up in the science lab? Where are they now anyway? Did you leave them without a protector? Maybe I will Bite her as well if she survives the night. What do you think? I could make us a new Pack, one with enough members to keep me strong and us safe but they wouldn’t be blood, not like you and me. We would never have to see our blood die again. The fire would never happen again. Help me destroy the Argents and their minions and Beacon Hills will be ours once more.” Peter was now gesturing wildly, empathically about the gym as if his people were already there to hear his grand plans for the town. Derek wanted to throw the Molotov Cocktail and be done with it but the thing he hadn’t really thought about when Stiles was in the room and civilians were in the room trying not to die in the crossfire was that he couldn’t stand to watch another one of this family members burn. He couldn’t fathom the thought of being the reason his Uncle Peter burned, not unless it was the last thing he _could_ do. He was going to run away like a coward rather than set this man, his only bond left in this world, on fire.

“And Stiles,” Peter said with another feral grin. Derek flinched, hearing his pack-mates name, the stupid teenager that somehow wriggled and wiggled until he’d gotten himself under Derek’s skin and the idea of him being anywhere near Peter or at the mercy of the unhinged alpha sickened the beta.

“Don’t you talk about him!” Derek said, his eyes flashing brilliant blue.

Peter smiled, “You know the last time you felt something for someone like that, it didn’t turn out well for either one of you. You do seem to have a type though. Dark hair and eyes, pale skin and feisty—beyond feisty.”

Derek growled as the rage and pain bubbled over at the memory of when his eyes turned blue for the first time ever, lunging forward and chucking the beaker as hard as he could, completely forgetting everything he’d just decided for himself. It struck Peter in the shoulder and shattered and there was this moment where nothing happened and Derek wondered what the hell Lydia had been trying to do and Stiles had the other beaker, it was supposed to protect him then there was a sudden explosion of fire and Peter was screaming and on the ground ripping quickly out of the clothes that had easily caught fire and Derek couldn’t handle looking even if it did get him killed or hurt when Peter got out of the burning article of clothing as he ran over to Allison and ripped easily through her bonds.

He pulled the gag out of her mouth and she cried out, “Don’t hurt me please!”

Derek growled, “I just set my uncle on fire for you. Why the hell would I hurt you now?” he growled as he ripped through the bonds around her ankles, dragged her out of the chair and pushed her gently towards the doors as Peter stopped screaming and Derek didn’t want to know what that meant, “I have no interest in more blood tonight but you are going to have to move fast!”

Allison nodded and ran, holding her hand over the wound on her side and they made it through the door as Peter roared behind them and they ran. He needed to find Scott and get the rest of them out of the school. He needed to get Stiles out of here. They were running and Derek turned to see if Peter was behind him and Allison squeaked and there was another man’s grunt and shout, “What are you doing here? You’re bleeding! Did this guy…”

“Get out of here,” Allison shrieked, interrupting the janitor’s need to protect her from her reluctant werewolf hero, “Help us get out of here, please! There is something in here with us, chasing us!”

Derek pushed Allison around the janitor, if that’s who he was though Derek didn’t have time to care about it. The man kept shouting at them, the words unclear as his heartbeat echoed in his ears and her panting breath rounded out his inability to focus on anything. It was too much like the fire, the fear oozing off of her. Then there was a shout and a gurgle and the janitor wasn’t talking anymore. Allison turned around and screamed, Derek winced at the sound, up close with his sensitive ears. “He took the man, what is happening? Why is this happening?” she shrieked.

“We can talk about it when we aren’t trying to run away now shut up,” Derek replied calmly as they continued back towards the room where Stiles and the others were then paused, realizing that they weren’t in there anymore but there was smoke leaking out from underneath the door. Clearly something had happened and they felt threatened enough to use Lydia’s second science project bomb and it was undoubtedly Scott, being controlled and compelled by Peter, “Fuck!”

That’s why Peter had howled earlier, to take control of his beta, so Scott could do the dirty work that Peter wouldn’t have time to do.

“What?” Allison whispered, still scared but trying to contain the terror. He could smell it on her but it was outweighed by the blood and charred flesh and clothing. Derek was desperate to block out the far too familiar scent of burning flesh and fabric, it was triggering visions and memories of the fire, seeing it from the main entry as well as the sight of it as Laura and Derek had run up to the house. Derek continued to fight it, he wouldn’t be able to fight if he was stuck in a memory, especially that one.

“They aren’t here anymore. We need to find the others.” he said as he pulled out his phone and called the only unknown phone number Stiles put into this one and he heard panting when Stiles picked up, “Stiles! What’s going on?”

“We’re in the field and I don’t know if I can hold him off anymore!”

“What?” Derek demanded though it was more about the fact that Stiles was trying to hold Scott back when he was human and he just got out of the hospital a couple of weeks ago and was he trying to get back in? The line went dead but Derek was already running, wishing now that he had more than his claws though they would have to be enough against Scott. Allison was right behind him and they weren’t touching thankfully, despite her embarrassing lack of training as a daughter of the Argent clan she was clear enough to keep quiet now and not grab Derek. He needed to have his hands empty to fight. They moved towards the locker rooms, having to turn back to get to the lacrosse field and luckily Peter was nowhere to be seen at the moment though who knew how long that would last. Allison paused near the locker rooms and grabbed a metal bat and Derek nodded, pleased with her rational thought despite the pain she was in, the scent sharp all around her and choking Derek a little at a time in the halls that were starting to smell like the smoke seeping out from the science lab. Then they were running towards the field and he caught sight of Scott, shifted and attacking Stiles who was armed with a bat as well and he was trying not to hit Scott but keep his best friend from attacking them. Lydia and Jackson were cowering about a yard behind Stiles and not helping at all. The jock who Stiles called Jackson “the Douche” Whittmore more often than not was at least standing slightly in front of Lydia, trying to protect her. Derek ran towards Scott just as Allison cried out his name in shock and terror. Scott turned towards her as he tackled the teenaged werewolf to the ground. Derek couldn’t help but look up at Stiles who was listing to the side a little, tired and bruised. There was blood leaking from scratch marks across his shoulder, abdomen and on his leg. He was limping and he still held the bat like he was planning on sending someone straight to hell if they attacked the people behind him.

“Scott!” Derek shouted as he refocused on him, eyes flashing as he held down the squirming beta. Allison was standing back, away from her boyfriend and the others staring down at Scott’s shifted face with a hand over her mouth in shock. Her focus was drawn by Jackson and Lydia for a second before she gasped at Stiles’ injuries. Scott heard the noise and focused on her then slowly Scott calmed down, looking around.

“Derek, what happened?” Scott whispered.

“He took control of you again,” Derek replied as he released the sick-looking beta and Scott’s eyes widened comically as he looked over at Allison then over at Stiles who was now leaning on the bat and Lydia was holding him up on the other side while Jackson watched in silent disbelief then they could hear, suddenly, the sound of sirens coming closer.

“Dad got my message apparently,” Stiles mumbled and Derek could feel the teenager’s relief, literally _feel_ it inside his chest instead of just knowing the scent but he didn’t have time to worry about it right now. He tried to remind himself he really would have to think about this later, the pack bond with Stiles was deeper and wider than the one he had with Scott and even compared to what he had with some of his family members. Right now though, he needed to get out of here.

Derek looked over at Stiles in distress as he scrambled to his feet, “We need to get everyone out of here! He bit Allison!”

Stiles looked over at the girl in surprise and frowned, “She needs to go to the hospital then. We need to stay here and talk to my dad, what the hell are we supposed to say anyway?” The teen scrubbed a hand over his buzzcut in agitation.

“Stiles! You don’t know what they do to their own when they get bit,” Derek said as he turned to Allison who was still staring at Scott in shock and didn’t seem to be listening to Derek’s frantic warning. She was holding the bat aggressively, as if she was daring any one of them to come one step closer. Derek figured they weren’t going to get her anywhere and he didn’t know what they were going to do if she went home and told her parents what happened and she would, Allison had no reason to distrust her parents.

Allison took the problem out of everyone’s hands when she took out her phone and dialed a number and Derek sighed, turning back to the others because he wasn’t going to continue to risk his life for a nascent Hunter, especially an Argent. He had pack to think of here. Scott was standing up, staring at Allison who was deliberately not looking at her date. Derek walked over to Stiles and touched his shoulder gently, “I don’t know what you’re going to have to say, I don’t know if you can keep lying to him after last time. We try very hard to keep our stuff quiet and away from the humans but Peter is clearly insane and doesn’t care about discretion anymore.”

Stiles nodded, his eyes sharp with concentration and pain. “It all happened so fast. Something attacked us, it was dark and we didn’t see much of anything. Vague. Its been working for a long time, especially for teenagers, we are prone to panic and not seeing things clearly.”

Derek couldn’t help but be impressed and touched that Stiles was not only willing to keep the secrets of his kind from his dad but he was steady enough to come up with a plan on the spot. They were running out of time and Derek shouldn’t be here when Stilinski and the other deputies arrive.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jackson demanded, taking a couple of steps towards Stiles aggressively. Derek was surprised since the other teenager was more than willing to hide his wound not that long ago and while he was confused, he quickly moved to Stiles’s back so Jackson wouldn’t be able to touch him. The jock pulled up short and decided glaring from a distance was less likely to get his throat ripped out. Derek knew his eyes were flashing but he couldn’t help it, having pack-mates, people he cared for, was making his long forgotten instincts loud and hard to ignore.

Stiles ignored the aggression like he normally did, not to mention standing seemed to be getting harder and harder for him as he spoke. He listened to the teenager as he moved close enough that Stiles could lean against the beta’s stronger, bigger form. Stiles sighed with relief, “Do you want to tell my father, the logical cynic, that you saw a werewolf tonight? Are you going to tell him about Scott when there’s a better than good chance you are going to be howling at the next moon? You want to out yourself in the same sentence?” Stiles asked, calmer than he really should have been but the simply questions seemed to be getting through the lacrosse captain’s thick skull.

Allison was talking behind them and the sirens were getting louder and then they heard the vague shouts of police as the deputies started searching the area. Derek had no doubt that they were going into the school building, Peter had done some damage to the front of the building. Derek turned towards Stiles and whispered with a hand at the back of Stiles’s shoulder, “You got this Stiles, I need to go.”

He nodded and Derek pulled the teen in close for a hug and pulled away some of his pain because he could and he needed to help the teenager somehow. Then he shifted Stiles against Lydia, waved over Scott and took off towards the tree line, forcing as much speed into him as he could so he wouldn’t be there when the officers came around the corner or through the locker room. He let the scent of clean forest wash over the subtle waft of fire and burning building that he hadn’t allowed to permeate in his brain while he was trying to keep everyone alive. Thank god they hadn’t stayed inside, the scent of fire and destruction would have easily debilitated Derek but now he could breathe a little and think what were they going to do next.

He trusted Stiles to figure out what everyone was going to say; he was concerned about Jackson and Allison for different reasons. He needed to find out where Peter went and hopefully with everyone having their phones back, he would be able to contact Stiles. Hopefully because of what happened, the teenager would be with his father for the rest of the night or with his wounds he might end in the hospital for observation at least.

God, he missed his mother and his sister, they would know what to do. He scrubbed a hand through his hair then took off towards the Hale house because he couldn’t return to the warehouse until Kate was gone or dead and he needed to see if Peter was still out here somewhere. Sadly with his cover being at the long-term stay unit in the hospital meant that he was going to end up at the hospital either way because Peter was going to be that close to Stiles and all he would need is one or two minutes to bite the spastic teenager and Derek wasn’t in the mood to deal with how pissed Stiles was going to be if Peter turned him, he also had no intention of dealing with a pissed of Sheriff Stilinski who owned guns, lots of guns and a sheriff’s station, if Stiles got hurt or killed.

Plus, he didn’t think he trusted anyone else to protect Stiles anymore, not his dad or his best friend and definitely not the Beacon Hills hospital.


	10. Another Hospital Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is hurt, Nascent wolves are rolling out all over the place and a whole lot of ridiculous, confused feels all over the hospital.

Stiles watched as Derek ran off into the woods, hoping he would keep an eye out for Peter and not stray too far since the alpha would still be gunning for all of them. The beta ally disappeared into the trees just as Stiles’s dad ran around the corner of the building to see the group of antsy and disheveled teenagers. Stiles looked at all of them in turn, “It happened so fast. It was too dark. Nothing specific.”

Lydia nodded, tears having run her mascara a little even though she somehow managed to look alike a fallen angel. Jackson mulishly glared at him then gave one singular nod. Scott didn’t need to be told and Allison was standing, holding her hands over her stomach, the jacket obscuring the marks on her stomach indecipherable in the dark pattern of her blouse, Derek would have smelled the blood but she could hide it. She looked scared and miserable and Stiles could empathize but if Derek was even a little right then she needed to not say anything to her family about this. And she didn’t look convinced of anything and they were running out of time.

“Allison, you need to keep quiet when you go home too, about everything. About seeing Derek and the man that attacked you. You need to keep your mouth shut about Scott too otherwise your father is going to kill them all. And if you do turn, if Derek is right, you are going to forfeit your own life.”

Allison shook her head.

Stiles took a couple limping steps towards her, his eyes on her face and intense, “Do you trust your parents to love you more than they hate werewolves?”

“Werewolves!” she squeaked in confusion.

“Yeah? Do you trust them with your life? Your aunt?”

She nodded but it was hesitant, maybe she’d seen enough miscommunications or outright lies to play it safe.

His dad was bearing down on their position, they had seconds left. Stiles had seconds before the adrenaline kicked off and he landed on his ass too. He needed to protect his pack! Scott looked broken and he wasn’t going to handle the fall-out from this, Stiles could tell already. He was going to have to be the one that held them all together and with his injuries, he was going to end up separated from them. They needed this out now!

“Don’t you fucking say anything about Scott! Do you hear me?” Stiles hissed out and she finally nodded, tears sticking to her lashes and turning her brown eyes luminous because she would of course be beautiful when she was crying too. Then the Sheriff was close enough and Allison broke into hysterics and Stiles wondered how much of it was so she wouldn’t have to talk at all. He didn’t really care as long as she did was she agreed to. He watched as she subtly zipped her jacket and threw herself at Lydia’s embrace who just caught and held her friend.

Sheriff Stilinski staggered up to them and looked around for a second before heading straight for Stiles and gripping his shoulder, “What happened son?”

“Something attacked us,” he returned with a shudder that he didn’t have to fake _at all._ All he had to do was think about Peter out there somewhere, leading Scott to kill his friends and making more werewolves in a bid to kill anyone in town that may have had something to do with the fire. He killed Laura, probably for her Alpha abilities but what if he decided he wouldn’t keep Derek around because the beta would know how to take the power, how to be the alpha. Derek was a good man; he wasn’t the monster that Peter was and he would threaten Peter’s plan until he was dealt with. Suddenly the idea of the born beta being out there by himself sounded like an awful idea and Stiles wished he could call him back. Then he thought about the dead, cold and deadly look on Scott’s face as he came at them in the hallway and shudder again, listing a little as his dad watched him.

“Hey now,” his dad crooned gently as he helped to steady Stiles.

That walk, Scott had moved in the smooth methodical walk of a predator that _knew_ he was going to catch his prey and he would kill it. The moment was burned into his mind’s eye and had felt like a bad sci-fi novel, when the hero sees his best friend and realizes it’s not who he thought it was. When the hero realized that the creature in front of him was only wearing his best friend’s face and he was going to have to kill it, only killing it would kill Scott for realsies because this wasn’t fiction at all. Stiles had been absolutely sure that he was going to have to damage and kill Scott, his best friend and brother. There had been no way around it. Only running, letting the werewolf hunt them had presented as a different choice. Heading to the Lacrosse field had been as far as they got before Scott was done chasing. He kept circling, swiping at Stiles who’d been determined to protect Jackson and Lydia to his dying breath, not because he liked them or that they deserved to live more than Scott but he couldn’t help the idea that killing someone would mean the end of Scott and Stiles.

“Stiles?” someone called, confused and concern but the teenager couldn’t seem to grasp who the person was in the midst of the replaying of the awful night.

For whatever reason Scott had been ordered to play out this sick little game with the others, maybe the final point had been to kill them but not before Scott played with them a little bit. Stiles had struck out at Stiles, hitting him with the bat as often as he needed to keep the werewolf away from Lydia and Jackson but he’d taken a beating for his trouble. Everything hurt and all he wanted to do was go to sleep but it was too risky, Peter was still out there and Derek was alone and Scott needed someone to stick around and help him through this. Both being their second attacker as well as the fallout with Allison. Jackson would need help and Lydia needed to understand what she’d seen, put it into the bank of the believable and Allison, struck thrice by this one night would need just as much support as the rest of them. If she was willing to let them be that support.

At this point the only good news was that after the attack, he wasn’t going to school tomorrow and then it was Friday and the weekend. For now all he could do was make sure everyone here stayed safe. And to do that he was going to have to stay standing. He needed to make a plan—he wavered and heard someone shout at him again. He had to keep them together, the thought kept circling in his mind and it felt like the moment before the fall and staying awake and alert became a force of will, a fight that Stiles was losing second by second. He didn’t want to lie to his dad anymore, he just wanted to be held and heard and protected.

“Stiles?” his father asked again and it finally got through. Stiles suddenly felt the quavering in his body, the quickened breath of a rising panic attack. With self-awareness came the choice to use some of the tools he’d learned when he was a kid and he grabbed his dad and used them now.

“Dad?” he whispered, his voice breaking. He shuddered forward into a desperate hug, his father answering the need easily. He grappled with the back of his dad’s jacket, trying to keep a hold on it, worried abstractly that he was getting blood on his dad’s uniform then apologized for it.

“Sorry,” he muttered and tried to pull away.

His dad refused his retreat, “Don’t you dare apologize to me about some weird thing right now. You’re hurt, again and everyone is going to the hospital. We’ll take statements there.”

Stiles nodded and his dad wrapped a comforting arm around Stiles’s waist as they walked. Stiles looked around hoping to see a flash of brilliant supernatural eyes in the dark because knowing that Derek was close would help to see Stiles to the hospital. He couldn’t be the cornerstone of this ragtag team right now. Instead all he saw were red eyes and they were looking right at him. Stiles swallowed and moved a little slower before reaching out for Scott to help him.

“You okay buddy?” his father asked.

“You gotta do your Sherriff thing Dad, Scott can help me to the ambulance,” Stiles whispered and there was a moment when he thought that Scott was going to deny him, looking shattered and scared before Stiles nodded and he walked over to take Stiles’s weight against his side. Stiles sighed as Scott’s hand snuck into the back of his shirt and started seeping some of his pain away. Enough that he could think. The Sherriff nodded when he was happy with Stiles being taken care of then walked out in front to start determining how they were getting everyone to the hospital and start making calls to parents.

“Hold up a second Scott,” Stiles whispered.

“I’m so sorry Stiles,” Scott whined, the sound almost canine and full of anguish.

“Shh for now man, that’s not what we’re doing right now.”

Scott nodded though he still looked fucking guilty. Stiles took a deep breath then spoke out as strongly as he could, knowing the alpha would hear him, “You’re not taking them or me. I would never accept the Bite, knowing what you are. You’re never going to get Scott by making him hurt his friends and he’s not alone. I am never going to let him turn into you so just knock it off!”

Scott was silent, sucking in a sharp breath and says, “He’s laughing. Saying ‘We’ll see Stiles. I like you and I have every intention of keeping every single one of you.’ Not creepy at all huh?”

Stiles shrugged, Peter being creepy is just par for the course they were on, it wasn’t surprising and he wasn’t going to stop fighting just because the crazy alpha thinks he can scare a bunch of teenagers with his weirdness.

Then his dad was calling out to him, directing Stiles and Scott into the nearest ambulance. He shifted painfully forward, Scott having to take more and more of his weight as his body started to drag. It was like lead had suddenly been injected to each of his legs and his arms were having trouble doing as he asked. Scott just took his weight easily, got his hurt best friend into the back of the ambulance and the door closed them off to the world. Stiles sat down on the edge of the cot back there and watched as something shifted out of the woods and came closer. The door closing just as Peter, shifted into his monstrous form attacked one of the ambulance attendants.

“No!” Stiles screamed echoing the sounds coming from outside the rig, “DAD!!” just as the door slammed shut and they took off in a flurry of activity. Stiles shifted and fought to get up, to throw himself back out of the ambulance, to demand that Peter pay for the crimes he’s committed.

Scott held him down, “Stiles, listen to me! Listen!” he shouted and Stiles quieted for a second, breathing in deep and trying desperately to calm his breathing enough to listen to his friend, even as his blood boiled in his veins, pounded in his ears.

“I heard your dad get into his car, he was heading out to meet us at the hospital. He should be fine but we won’t know until we get to the hospital. Take heart, Peter must know that killing your father won’t endear you or me to him. Remember that!”

Stiles shook his head, not sure at all if he believed what Scott was saying or if his friend was just doing his part to get Stiles to safety especially after being the one to hurt him earlier but he had to have some hope.

“I can’t lose him too Scottie,” Stiles whispered, his voice hoarse from the screaming and the adrenaline spike after thinking they were all safe enough. He hoped that Lydia and Jackson were in the other ambulance and they were on the way to the hospital. He thought about Peter, attacking people now that had nothing to do with the deaths of his family and sighed. This was just going to get worse.

Stiles looked around, thankful that they were alone in the back and whispered, “We’re going to have to kill him. It’s the only way to stop this.”

Scott nodded, pressing his cheek to the top of Stiles’s head and holding his frail human friend close until they got to the hospital and there was Melissa to take Stiles and check him out. She leaned down and pressed a hand to his shoulder and spoke gently to him, “We’re going to take care of you.”

“My dad?” Stiles whispered, grabbing Scott’s hand to try and keep his best friend close even as Melissa wheeled him towards one of the intake rooms.

Scott moved along next to him and kept looking around for the sheriff and the others, “I don’t see him yet Stiles but he’s coming. I promise he’s coming.”

“The others?” Stiles asked weakening even as he tried to force himself up and to look around the hospital for the other three they came here with. Melissa held him back in the wheelchair, Scott helping her and Stiles struggled a little though he didn’t have the strength to fight his way free. “I need you to find him Scott, find them! Please help me Scott!”

His best friend nodded, “I will Stiles.”

“I can’t lose my dad, please?”

“I know buddy, Mom?” he whispered to the nurse and she reached down and scrubbed a gentle hand over Stiles’s hair and down his neck.

“I got you Stiles, Scott is going to stay here and wait for your dad so he knows that you are being well cared for.”

Stiles shook his head, “I gotta stay awake, please? Mrs. McCall, I can’t sleep till I know everyone is safe. Please?”

“Honey I don’t think you’re going to have a choice in the matter. You’re crashing but I am going to tell you something sweetie. You have to listen okay?”

Stiles nodded as she came around the wheelchair and squatted down in front of him. Melissa took Stiles’s hands and held his gaze, “I know what you’re up against and I am not going to let anything happen to you or the others. I got Scott, I know who to keep an eye on and your dad is going to be here soon and he’s going to kick my ass if you aren’t being taken care of.”

Stiles nodded and finally relaxed enough to let her get him admitted. He would just have to trust the others to get his dad to him as quickly as possible. He would have to trust that Scott wasn’t going to go off on his own and that Melissa would be there for him as well as her beloved screw up son because right now was about the time that Stiles’s willpower ended and the real exhaustion kicked in. He groaned as the aches and pains resurfaced in the release of tension and he ended up holding his hands around his stomach. Melissa started speaking to a couple of the other nurses and Stiles just sank and hoped they would all still be alive and human in the morning.

 

The next time he opened his eyes there was a needle sticking out from his hand and he had that floaty feeling that undoubtedly meant drugs. Good drugs. _All the good drugs!_ He looked up at the ceiling for a second, taking stock before sitting up. He blinked a couple more times, trying to get his bearings and looked at the room he was in, much like all the other hospital rooms in the joint.  Thankfully he had a private suite, something like his mom had been in near the end, Scott was there at the end of the bed with his head on the mattress next to Stiles’ legs. Jackson was sitting in a chair in the farthest corner of the room with Lydia curled up on his lap, they were both asleep. Allison wasn’t there but Stiles didn’t really think she would be after everything that happened. He hoped that Derek was overreacting about her family’s response to Allison getting bit. She didn’t deserve to die for that.

Stiles shifted his hand a little and touched the edge of Scott’s curly black hair, running his fingers through his best friend’s mop of hair and he snapped up and looked over at the head of the bed to see him awake. “Stiles! You’re awake!” he whispered excitedly.

Stiles grinned then winced when he felt a cut on his lip pull a little, wondering when that had even happened. He shifted on the bed, trying to take an inventory of his wounds, but there wasn’t much more than a feeling of tightness where the scratches were. He was bandaged over the shoulder, and the stomach.  He knew there were marks on his legs as well though it wasn’t as obvious. “Scott, my dad?”

Scott nodded a little and Stiles wanted to ask for clarification on that but Scott immediately started talking and he couldn’t interrupt. “We’re all okay, as you can see Jackson and Lydia decided to stick close to us. Allison,” Scott paused and took a deep breath, “She was released to her parents and went home. I was worried about you. You took the hits,” Scott said and then he gulped and whispered brokenly, “You didn’t let me talk earlier but you let me hurt you. Why would you do that, for them especially? After the way they have treated you since forever. Why Stiles?”

Stiles nodded because this had been coming for weeks now, “Not because I wanted to but I needed to protect you. I couldn’t let you go. I couldn’t let you lose yourself because Peter’s a fucking coward and a manipulative douchebag! Are you going to tell me what happened to you?” He coughed a little, though he doesn’t know why, he didn’t remember anything causing trouble in his throat but maybe it was just the drugs and unconsciousness. Everything was still a little loopy but he wasn’t going to go back to sleep when they had to get a plan in gear for the next couple of days until the full moon. Stiles needed to know that Derek was okay.

“I don’t know, I realized that he forced me to do his bidding and I think I know why.”

“And?” Stiles asked, gesturing wildly and pulling at the IV in his hand a little so he resettled his hands at his side. He gestured to Scott a little and there was something, confusion and desire in his friend’s gaze then Scott scooted as close has he could get and Stiles started rubbing his shoulder a little. After working out some of these things with Derek, it suddenly wasn’t hard to offer physical comfort to his friend, knowing that Scott maybe wouldn’t even know he needed it. When Scott sighed a little under Stiles’s touch he gestured for the teen wolf to continue as if the touch was nothing new or interesting.

Scott continued. “He wants me in his pack, loyal to him but that means I have to get rid of my current pack, or they have to belong to him too.”

Sties frowned because yeah Derek had been trying to get them to be a pack but Derek wasn’t the one being attacked by Beta!Scott the night before, “You clearly don’t mean Derek, so what pack?”

“Jackson. Lydia. Allison. And you. My pack. And he wants me to kill all of you.”

“And you wanted to, that was the whole point. That’s what happened on the field, until you heard Allison.”

Scott nodded and they fell silent for a few minutes then, “Stiles?” he whispered.

“Huh?” he responded unintelligently, still reeling from the fact that Scott had been told to kill his best friends and he’d wanted to though Stiles didn’t stop rubbing along the back of Scott’s shoulder and neck. He wouldn’t leave Scott to deal with this alone, they weren’t going to be alone anymore, he would make sure of it. He scrubbed his hand up into the back of Scott’s hair for a second and thought about the almost intimate contact, something they had never ever done before and he knew there was nothing for him here and he was glad for it. He wanted to always have Scott in his life and he was pleased that no matter what was happening with his sexuality, he wouldn’t lose Scott to some weird unrequited love thing. This touching thing though, it wasn’t about sex or romance it was about giving Scott the closeness he needed when he needed it. It was about pack and in this moment between pack-mates, Stiles got it. Scott was going to need him always; Stiles was always going to feel the same so he would keep sticking close.

“You’re not Robin all the time, I don’t think you are Robin any of the time.”

Stiles kept eye contact with Scott because he’d forgotten that Scott was going to speak at all and he hadn’t expected that. He shrugged because otherwise he was going to blush and stammer. He didn’t have time to stammer, he needed to figure out what the hell they were going to do next but first he needed to know for sure.

“Scott, where’s my dad?”

His friend shrugged sheepishly, “I haven’t seen him much, as far as I can tell he was taking statements then he had to deal with the ambulance attendant being attacked and let me tell you, everyone is freaking the freak about that.”

“Have you _seen_ him?” Stiles asked, heart hammering in his chest at the implication that he’d asked Scott to be sure his dad was okay and he hadn’t.

“Not exactly,” Scott whispered and Stiles groaned.

“Are you kidding me Scott! I need to know my dad is okay!” Stiles hissed and they both watched as Lydia and Jackson shifted a little at his tone. Stiles pulled his hand away from Scott’s shoulder and scrubbed at his own head for a minute. It wasn’t Scott’s fault, he said that the sheriff was out doing sheriff things and a teenager, even his son’s best friend wasn’t going to _make_ Sheriff Stilinski do anything other than his duty.

“Do you have my phone still?”

Scott nodded and handed it over, there were an embarrassing amount of texts and calls to Allison that had gone unanswered and he shared a look with Scott who looked down at his hands, and shrugged as if to say ‘what could I do…’. He went back to the phone and found a couple of messages from Derek that had been left alone and Stiles was strangely warm and comforted by his best friend. He respected Stiles and Derek enough to leave them alone even if they were nothing more than updates, he couldn’t explain why that little red number was so pleasing to see. Derek was alive somewhere and he’d thought about Stiles enough to text him.

First he needed to be sure about his dad, he called the number and waited with baited breath. He needed to hear his dad’s voice and on the second ring he picked up and he blurted out, “Dad?”

“Hey bud, you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” Stiles whispered, sobbing a little at the sound of his dad. He wasn’t taken, he was alive. “You’re all right?”

“Of course son, I wanted to be there when you woke up but I had to take care of this attack, clearly the mountain lion wasn’t the problem. We will talk about it later when I get to the hospital okay?”

Stiles nodded then chuckled, “Of course dad, I love you okay? Be safe.”

“I will son. Stay with your friends and get better buddy.”

They hung up the phone together and he turned to Scott who was sitting in the chair still, one hand casually on Stiles’s knee and the other rubbing his face. Stiles went back to rubbing his friend’s shoulder before he opened the first message, **‘Hey, I didn’t stick around long enough to get Peter. I couldn’t fight him. I’m sorry. I wasn’t brave like you were.’**

Stiles frowned because Derek had been plenty brave and him not being able to kill his uncle did not make him weak or whatever he was thinking. Stiles would talk to him about it later, first he opened the second one, **‘I can’t stay at the warehouse anymore. Before the school thing, Kate found me there. I didn’t get a chance to tell you because of Peter. Let me know where you land when you aren’t in the hospital. I don’t want you to be alone, not with Peter on the loose. I’ll come to you.’**

Stiles nodded though he didn’t know why he was nodding, Derek couldn’t see him. He watched as the screen of his phone started wavering and realized his hands were shaking and he didn’t know at the moment if it was about what happened or the relief in knowing everyone was alive or if it was the information the werewolf imparted so easily. Derek was out there and Kate had found him and Stiles burned like hot with rage as it simmered and bubbled inside him, wondering what Kate said or did. He wanted to put her in the ground even more than he wanted to beat Peter or at least hurt the alpha. In fact, he was desperate for it at the moment. He pushed the blanket back and started to get up, making all the machines he was hooked up to throw a fit as his heart rate sped up and his I.V. pulled uncomfortably against his skin. Scott stood up but he was on the other side of the bed so when he tried to grab Stiles the first time, he missed. He asked, “Whoa man where do you think you’re going?”

“Scott we can’t just sit here. I need to find Derek and make sure he’s safe. I need to see that we are all safe. We need to get our bearings and I need to _see him!_ I _need to see_ my dad too!! Kate knows where he is, there isn’t a place in town that is safe for him while she’s here and breathing, we need to get to him.”

Stiles dropped his bare feet to the floor, a shock of cold that zipped up his spine and made him more than a little aware that he shouldn’t be standing at all right now. He flopped back down on the side of the hospital bed just as Scott got around to him, pressing a hand to his shoulder. Stiles gripped his friend’s wrist but he didn’t know if it was to push him away or pull him close. He took a couple of deep breaths and tried to stand again with a groan as Scott grappled with him. He felt as the continued movement pulled at the healing scrapes on his upper thigh and moaned and before he could grab a hold of anything,  the pain enveloped him and the pain killers could not live up to the challenge and he cried out. The cry shifted into a groan while Scott gripped his shoulder gently, under the sleeve and started the pain drain which just made Stiles feel dangerously floaty when he wanted to make sure that Derek was safe. Feeling floaty wasn’t a good thing since he needed to get out of here and find the werewolf. He tried to shove Scott off just as Melissa rushed into the room and started checking his leads and talking to him in that mom voice and Stiles closed his eyes and sobbed.

He didn’t know what had shifted, didn’t know how to stop the fear and the tears. All he knew was that they were trapped, unsafe in the safest building in town, surrounded by grown-ups who didn’t know enough to keep any of them alive. He knew that Scott would have to keep fighting for his self-will while Peter was alive and using the power of the alpha against the teenager. He knew that Jackson was going to turn and they were going to have to walk him through this, Allison might be in more danger because of her family and he just wanted to know Derek was safe and Peter was in the ground alongside Kate.

All of it true and none of it he felt capable of doing anything about and that reality came crashing down and Stiles broke, his chest tightened and his breath shortened imperceptible in the precursor to another panic attack.

Then Melissa was just holding him, “What’s wrong with him?” Scott demanded even as he continued to rub Stiles’s shoulder in comfort. Scott’s mom just kept holding Stiles, trying to calm him with her comforting presence but it just ratcheted up the fear and panic, she knew after all. Melissa McCall, the only other mom he’d known for the past eight years and she was going to die like the rest of them! She was going to die and Scott was going to turn and they were all going to face the end of days. Stiles knew logically that none of this was real, that his anxiety and fear were ratcheting up to a horrible degree where the worst was real and he couldn’t do anything about it.

He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want anyone else to die and he was just a kid, he shouldn’t have to be thinking about this. Stiles shouldn’t be the one trying to keep everyone alive. He wanted his dad, Stiles thought and didn’t realize he’d said it out loud until Melissa responded, “He’s going to be back later kiddo. You just have to keep breathing with me, okay?”

Stiles tried, he really did, but there was almost an old snap as something broke inside of him and the sobs only got worse. He could feel when Scott left, when Melissa asked a low question and then there was nothing but the broken disaster of his tears and sobs in the room and he wished he could make it stop. He just wanted it all to stop.

Stiles remembered again that he didn’t want the Bite, he wanted to be normal. He wished his best friend could be normal but that ship has definitely sailed and here they were. Now there were others and Scott alone had been almost to much for Stiles, now the others had been unceremoniously dragged into this world and there was no undoing it. Melissa’s hands were comfortingly holding him at the back of his neck and across his back, holding him still on the bed even though Stiles didn’t have enough power to fight if he wanted to. He just gripped at the back of her scrubs and the panic ebbed just enough for another sob to burst free.

“It’s going to be okay Stiles, your safe here honey.”

“NO no nonononono,” he shifted between a shouted bark to a whispered frenzy, sounding more insane by the second then flushing as he tried to calm down enough to continue, “None of us are safe and I can’t change that. I need Derek,” he husked. “I need to know he’s okay. He’s the only way we’re all getting out of this!” Melissa shushed him and Stiles did mostly because he couldn’t seem to stop the sobs that were making words difficult and he wished that the energy it took to ball his eyes out would end so he could stop then sleep. Sleep didn’t seem like a likely thing at the moment though. His mind just started spinning again, helpless stupid human and his friends were in danger. Derek was in danger, all the work he did to keep Derek safe was for nothing! He needed to know what happened with Kate, he wanted to know if Allison was okay and no one here was going to be strong enough to fight Peter, even here in the hospital and the alpha was just about crazy enough to come for them where ever they were. He was so close, if he was still maintaining his cover in the long-term care ward.

Then Melissa nodded, the movement telegraphed through Stiles’s body then she took a step back and Stiles growled and whimpered. The sound morphing sickeningly into a pained keening sound that made the teenager hate himself and the lack of control he had over his response. Then someone else had a hold of him. The arms were stronger, muscular and wrapped in worn leather and a body that was warmer than Stiles has been expecting. Stiles took a deep breath and knew that scent, took comfort in the smell. He burrowed deeper into Derek’s neck, taking the warmth into his skin and soul when Derek’s arms came around him. Stiles couldn’t stop it when his legs wrapped loosely around the back of Derek’s thighs, trying to keep him as close as possible. He flushed at the intimate position they were in but didn’t really care because as Derek held him, saying nothing at all Stiles started to calm down.

“That’s right,” Derek whispered gently, “You’re not alone. Not anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” Stiles gasped out, thinking about the awkward position he was putting the werewolf in, and the snot and the fingers digging into whatever skin he could find on Derek. The werewolf said nothing, just shushed him and kept on holding him until finally after an indeterminate amount of minutes the exhaustion won out over the fear and circumstances.

He took another shuddering breath, slumping into Derek’s arms and slipped his hands into the werewolf’s jacket and tried to burrow deeper into the warmth and hoped that they weren’t going to be separated anytime soon. He couldn’t do this on his own, not now and not anymore.

“Sourwolf, what are you doing here?” he whispered when he had barely enough breath to speak, he would get to the begging and the pleading in a minute but for now, sarcasm and pithy remarks were always the safest defense for him.

“I didn’t want to leave you alone for too long and then I come in here to find you have a small mental breakdown because you didn’t know where I was. Flattering but I came to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed or hurt worse because of me,” Derek returned as he pressed a palm into the side of Stiles’s neck. The warmth calms Stiles further and finally his legs flopped to the side and Derek is able to guide him back down to the bed. The calming teen looked around the room and noticed that everyone else was gone, wondering when that happened. “Scott? Jackson and Lydia?”

“They weren’t in the room when I got here, Melissa left she passed you over to me,” Derek shrugged.

“We need to stay together, Derek you have to keep us together,” Stiles whispered and his heart rate spike again and Derek immediately started rubbing a soothing rhythm into Stiles’s skin, over his heart.

“We’ll find a way Stiles; you don’t have to do this alone.”

Stiles sobbed out a breath and wrapped his fingers around Derek’s arms, keeping him close. “Please don’t leave me again Derek; I can’t do this without some help and apparently, Scott isn’t going to help me!”

Derek nodded causing Stiles to deflate further into the bed and they stayed still and quiet for a few minutes. “How are you feeling now Stiles?”

He shrugged because he was too tired now from the freak out to even say and he needed to know something else even more. “What happened with Kate?” Stiles whispered, keeping a hold of Derek’s arm so he felt the flinch even though it was minimal. He slid his thumb back and forth on the skin he had a hold of and hoped it comforted Derek at least enough to let him know that Stiles wasn’t going anywhere either.

Derek shook his head then settled more fully next to Stiles on the hospital bed. The warmth from his thigh radiated into Stiles side and his hand reached down to the side and gripped at Derek’s thigh and when he didn’t pull away Stiles sighed and listened, “She followed me, I was stupid and took the Camaro back with me to the warehouse. She slipped inside as I was closing the main delivery door. She shot me full of buckshot and put her hands on me.” Stiles’s grip on Derek’s arm changed, hardening as his eyes sharpened. The information was sobering him up pretty quickly so Derek just soothed him for a minute with his presence and one hand on his chest. The werewolf pressed his other hand to Stiles’s head, scratching gently at his buzzed scalp until the teenager relaxed again.

“She touched you how?” Stiles gritted out because he needed to know.

Derek flinched and Stiles knew. It wasn’t like he knew all the details of what she did to the werewolf when he was younger but he could imagine and it was enough for Stiles to see red. He tried to get up again but Derek just easily pressed him back down again with that large and comforting weight and power. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Well Sourwolf, I may not be capable of putting a dent in Peter but I can shoot that perverted bitch! My dad is the sheriff so I can get a gun and he’ll find a way to get me off. He won’t even question me about it really.”

Derek smiled a little, the expression so alien to what Stiles was used to on that face that he paused a little in his desperate attempt to escape the hospital bed. His heart skipped a beat, he’d never really understood that phrase until this second in time because he’d never seen Derek smile and it was enough to stop him in place and his heart knew that it would be forever changed. Stiles would find ways to make the smile happen again and again, until the werewolf understood that he deserved to be happy even with the grief. It was powerful and Stiles didn’t know what to do about it except experience it, wondering how he’d ever thought what he felt for Lydia could have compared to what he felt now for this sad half broken but good man.

The smile stuck around for a moment while Derek kept one hand on Stiles’s chest like he knew that the teenager was going to lull him into a false sense of security then leap out of bed. Stiles couldn’t really blame Derek for thinking that because despite his wounds, he sincerely meant what he’d said. He didn’t think that he should want to kill someone as much as he wanted to kill Kate but he did. Derek knew enough about Stiles that he was well aware of the teenager’s wily ability to by cunning enough to get what he wanted no matter what it took. After a couple more minutes of actively holding Stiles down, Derek spoke.

“I appreciate the offer but it’s unnecessary. I don’t want to see you get hurt again, she won’t care that you’re human only that you’re with me and the others. She didn’t care back then that she started a fire in a home with children and humans in there. She wanted all of us and our ‘supporters’ to die in the most awful of ways. She won’t stop from killing you, I can’t let that happen, not to someone else I care about.”

Stiles ignored the warmth in his belly, huffing a sigh and speaking because what else was he going to do since Derek wouldn’t let him go play the crappiest Knight in shining armor story ever; “Good then I won’t have a problem claiming self-defense because I am going to bait her into taking the first hit which is going to suck and hurt but probably not kill me outright. Sounds like it won’t be too difficult to get her going, maybe I should just talk about how much I _love_ werewolves?” he waggled his eyebrows at the older man.

Derek laughed out loud, it was more of a bark then anything with longevity but Stiles smiled because it didn’t matter anymore. He could sit here for a long time that Derek could still laugh, that _he_ helped Derek Hale just enough that he could laugh. That was enough.

He didn’t think he was going to be okay until he had Kate’s throat under his hand or Peter was in the ground but right now he was good because Derek was here and safe and he was _laughing._ Stiles didn’t want that to stop but they couldn’t just bask forever here even though he wanted to. This moment was proof that underneath the bitter, angry and hurting man was someone who wanted his life to _not_ be over. He was someone who didn’t want to be alone, he’d stayed alone because he figured it was what he deserved or what he was going to have. Stiles was even more determined to show Derek that they were going to have more, he was going to have a pack again even with a sarcastic genius human as a sidekick. He looked down and saw that Derek’s hand was still on his chest, over his heart which had steadied during the conversation. Stiles’ hand was wrapped around Derek’s wrist and they were so close and something inside Stiles settled, like falling into a warm bed with his favorite pillow, knowing he hadn’t screwed the pooch on this thing that didn’t really have a name. And maybe that was the best thing for both of them, to remain nameless, stop forcing it to be _something_ with a name. This was good for Stiles, great even and he was good as long as Derek didn’t leave again.

Stiles took a deep breath sobering to the next step, “What are we going to do? Jackson’s going to turn. Allison got bit last night. The full moon is only a few days away; Peter is out there just waiting. They can’t be alone, none of us should be alone. We need to help them.”

Derek nodded accepting the change in subject easily though Stiles wasn’t done talking about the different ways he was going to hurt Kate Argent, “They won’t be alone Stiles. I’m more worried about Allison; the hunter families have a proven method of dealing with their family members or minions who get bit.”

“And?” Stiles asked, heart rate picking up again while Derek’s hand tapped in a soothing rhythm that Stiles’ heart started to follow _without his say so!_ This was getting ridiculous, the connection he had with the werewolf wasn’t something Stiles had any sort of experience dealing with or any possible way of controlling.

“Knife to the heart, overdose on pain killers, carbon monoxide poisoning or a gun to the head. I guess it’s not the method that’s been across the board, just the intent. It would be better to be dead than be a werewolf. Argent is one of the longest running families of their kind. There cannot be an Argent werewolf it would be a stain on the family name and they can’t let that happen. They’re going to kill her or worse, make her believe that killing herself is the best option.”

Stiles sighed tiredly, “We need to figure out if she’s going to turn, get her out of harm’s way if she going to turn. No matter how it happens, even if we have to kidnap her. I can’t let her die because of me, because I was stupid enough to need an answer so I could have an excuse to talk to you. I pitted myself against Peter and didn’t take into account that he was crazy or that he would use the situation to get revenge on the people who destroyed yours, but especially the Argents. So stupid to not at least consider it what he would do if I got in the way.”

Derek tutted, shaking his head a little while his hand continued to stay on Stiles’s chest though the other one was back in his lap while Stiles pulled his hand back to scrub at his face but he heard when the werewolf whispered, “Stop it.”

“Stop what, it’s true! I was so desperate to be more than human, more than a liability to you and even Scott. I followed the alpha in the woods, part of me hoping that he would bite me and it would be all over, I wouldn’t be weak. I wouldn’t need to be protected.”

“Stiles, just stop it,” Derek grumbled gently though his frown spoke volumes to his annoyance of the subject matter and maybe that Stiles was forcing him to use his words. Either was possible with this guy, “You were never just a human. You kept Scott from getting caught more than once, you convinced me to stay and try to start making something of my life than what I had. I didn’t have anything but Laura when we left. You helped me remember what it was like to have a pack again even now. You are so exasperatingly brilliant I could choke you. You knew more about werewolves in two nights than I knew in months and I grew up with werewolves, and you were smart enough to know what was bullshit and who to ask when you didn’t know the answer. You were brave enough to ask me even though I never gave you any reason to believe I was anything but a murderer and a monster.”

Stiles chuckled at that, rubbing his free hand over his face to try and hide flush that was happening because of the person Derek was describing was definitely someone else. It couldn’t have been him plus the guy did have a point about looking and acting like a reclusive murderer. “I totally thought they were going to find my body after that night on the road.”

Derek smirked before he continued, “And you figured out it was Peter, you refused to be cowed because _I_ thought you should leave it alone or walk away. You refused and yeah, things went badly but not because you’re weak or a liability. Goddammit Stiles, you stood between a werewolf—your best friend—and people you barely call acquaintances willing to hurt your best friend for them for the simple reason that you didn’t want him to be destroyed by his actions and the guilt he would have to live with after. You convinced _all_ of them to protect each other and me in the time it took for your father to walk from the parking lot to the lacrosse field. When I said that you were human and breakable that is only your body, not your spirit. You carry the spirit of a wolf and don’t you forget it. I would want to protect that either way whether or not you were a werewolf.”

Stiles covered his face and muttered, “Shut it Hale. I am never gonna stop blushing now.” Every single word had been delivered in that monotone/neutral tone that Derek did when he didn’t want others to know how affected he was and the problem with that was that Stiles actually believed him because it wasn’t some soap box speech to make a spastic teenager feel better about himself. Derek didn’t coddle teenagers, he didn’t kowtow to his needs and Stiles liked that about the guy, but it also meant that when Derek said something in that tone, he meant it and Stiles couldn’t argue it. Well he couldn’t argue it out loud and he wouldn’t for now even though he wanted to, he didn’t want to be brave and smart. Right now he wanted to be Scott, capable of those big puppy eyes and moral high ground because the guy seemed to have gotten all the fun shit about being a werewolf while his _human_ best friend had gotten the crappy side effects.

Derek snorted even as Stiles’s thoughts rolled around in his head. He wondered if Derek had meant it when he said that Stiles didn’t have to do this alone anymore. He didn’t want to be the go-to guy for everything, all the decisions and the hard shit that had to be done. He didn’t want to do any of that!

“Stiles,” Derek said with a weary sigh.

“Sorry,” he muttered back.

“No need,” Derek said with a shrug.

“What does it sound like when I start spinning? What can you smell?” Stiles asked because he was curious how Derek always seemed to know the right moment to interrupt, even when that meant that Stiles was going to go back to jabbering in his ear.

Derek took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “Your heartbeat picks up, I can hear the hitch in your breathing when you are about to go off in your head. I don’t like to interrupt it every time because honestly I can’t always be there and you need to know how to deal with it but there’s a part of me that doesn’t like the scent of anxiety on you, there is also this feeling I get, like bugs under my skin.”

“When I start freaking out?” Stiles asked with a frown.

Derek shrugged, “Just some secondary sensation attached to the instinct.”

“What instinct?” Stiles asked in a tired whisper, the conversation doing enough to calm him into letting the pain killers start to work again, he must have just gotten a dose because he was starting to feel a little floaty then he looked down and noticed the slightly darkened veins in Derek’s arms and chuckled, “You don’t need to do that.”

“I do.”

“Why?” Stiles asked just as his eyes started to droop. They fell silent and Stiles figured Derek didn’t want to talk anymore so he just let the silence reign. The comfort of Derek’s hand never moved away from his chest, his thumb rubbing back and forth a little with Stiles’s hand over the top of it.

The physical contact carried no pressure or weirdness, Stiles felt secure and safe in Derek’s presence and sleep came over him quickly.

He kept a tight grip as long as he could, even in sleep though it eventually settled and released and he was left hoping that Derek would be there when he woke again, but the next time started to surface the werewolf wasn’t there when Stiles’s hands started to flop around. He sighed unhappily though after another moment he realized that Derek hadn’t gone far. Stiles could hear the werewolf’s growling grumbling tone though it had a rarely heard tone of respect to it and Stiles frowned, eyes still closed and feeling fuzzy, until he heard his father as well. The Sheriff wasn’t happy but he was here and Stiles didn’t care that he was angry because he was alive!

“You were there, weren’t you?” the sheriff asked Derek and Stiles wondered for a second how this conversation got started, had Derek still been sitting next to Stiles when he came into the room and now they were having a Sherriff-Father with a shotgun moment. The Sheriff knew that Stiles had declared that Derek was a friend though he didn’t know how much his dad believed him about the older werewolf.

There was no response and Stiles tried to open his eyes, figuring that nap time was over. He needed to derail this conversation before the two grumbling men got into a ridiculous fight over Stiles of something. Then he realized that his eyes weren’t lifting, his limbs felt too heavy to move and he took a shaky breath. Obviously, there was something wrong, his pain meds were off or something, and he took another breath but there was nothing he could seem to do. He wanted to cry out, he needed to cry… but he couldn’t. His fingers weren’t even moving anymore. He couldn’t shift on the bed, he didn’t feel anything and his arm, the one with the I.V. in it was starting to feel frigid. He took a deep breath, trying to scream or cry or groan or something but it just sputtered back out through his nose when his mouth insisted on doing _abso-fucking-lutely nothing!_ He kept trying even as his dad spoke again.

“Look son, I know you care about him but this is my only boy and all I have left of my wife. Stiles is the most important part of both of us. I am still in charge of what he does sometimes, who he sees especially someone several years older than him to which I don’t really understand the friendship of anyway.”

“Don’t threaten me please,” Derek said with a subdued growl, Stiles was glad to hear the werewolf was still being respectful even if he was making demands. The teenager kept trying to come out of his drug induced catatonia while he considered that it wasn’t that long-ago Stiles had been the annoying kid that was a part of Scott McCall’s introduction to the supernatural and now it was a threat to him to possibly be told he wouldn’t be able to be friends with Stiles because of his dad. Derek spoke gravely after a moment, “I promise you on the graves of every single one of my family members that I will make sure that Stiles is as safe as possible whenever I’m around. He’s my friend and he’s important to me Sheriff… Sir.”

Stiles tried again to drag himself out of the drugged slumber, frustrated that it felt _so heavy_ inside his body. Even as it thickened, his breathing wouldn’t even ratchet up. Everything was forcing him down and he didn’t understand why. Why hadn’t the machines picked up anything in his heartbeat? Why hadn’t Derek? Unless his heart was slowly too? That thought came with a desperate need to keep fighting. He thought for a second, there was no way Peter could have gotten to him here. No way! Derek was here, Scott was here and Melissa, his dad and the others. The only people in and out would have been—fuck—Stiles thought: medical professionals i.e. doctors and nurses… Peter had a nurse on his side, Derek and the others wouldn’t have known and now this was happening right under all of their noses!

He tried to listen to the conversation, the voices of his father and his friend were enough to keep him fighting, keep him trying.

“Then how did he get hurt?” the sheriff was demanding.

“Because I left him alone,” Derek said and Stiles heart picked up speed suddenly, causing Derek to call out, “Stiles?”

He could hear as the two man ran into the room, dull thudding coming towards him and his dad whispered, “Stiles? Are you awake buddy?”

Stiles tried to open his mouth, open his eyes and do something. He was still trapped in his own skin and screaming inside. He could feel his body moving but it wasn’t, there was nothing but darkness and he wanted out.

“Sheriff, there’s something wrong here? His heart is erratic, calm one second then racing the next, I know his rhythm. Get someone in here, someone you trust,” Derek whispered and Stiles was surprised that Derek had offered that much information, as far at the teenager was concerned Derek wasn’t checking his pulse points so he must sound weird or idiotic at best, crazy at the worst. And maybe, just maybe it was a proclamation of the supernatural.

“How can you tell?” his dad asked and Stiles wanted to shout at his dad to just listen even though he didn’t think that Derek should be talking about this stuff to someone not in the know, especially the sheriff. On the other hand, he desperately wanted his dad to just realize that Derek only wanted to help and there was nothing they could say right now to explain it anyway.

“I can hear it and I can smell something is wrong which means a nurse or doctor had to do it to him, no one else has been in here. I think you know what I mean by that,” Derek whispered the last and Stiles wished he could frown because that sounded a lot like a freaking secret! Derek and his dad had secrets? How the hell could they have secrets? Had they ever spoken about anything besides Stiles like once or Laura twice?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the sheriff growled then was shouting for Mrs. McCall while Derek didn’t move. In fact, he pressed a hand to Stiles’s chest and it was like when he was sleeping and contact took time to get down to his consciousness. Stiles could barely _feel Derek’s hand_ on his chest! What the hell was happening to him?

“Stiles we’re here, not going to leave you. We’re going to figure out what is happening,” Derek promised and he desperately wanted to nod, to let the werewolf know that he was in here and he wasn’t going anywhere either. He wasn’t going to die in the goddamned hospital like his mother!

He screamed in his head, calling out to Derek and his father, calling out to Scott and his mother and just screamed, shaking only to realize that he’d never made a sound or moved even an inch. He could see the shimmering lights behind his lids, his mind raging suddenly with sights and his ears cuffed with sounds over and over, leaving him desperate for a way out. Anyway way out.

“Stiles, I don’t know what this is going to do to you but it’s the best we can do without knowing what’s going on,” Mrs. McCall was saying then a couple of seconds passed while Stiles kept screaming in his mind, struggling against the pressure then suddenly the sound of his own shouts shocked him into silence. He opened his eyes, breath heaving uncomfortably and his heart racing. Everything was sore, all his muscles tight and aching as he looked up at the ceiling, someone was holding him down and Stiles started shoving at the heavy weight.

“Get off! GET OFF!!” he screamed then rolled off the bed and fell to the ground, shouting in renewed pain, curling in a ball on the ground at the sensation of wrenched muscles impacting with the ground and he settled, panting and exhausted.

“What—the—hell?” he whispered after a couple of minutes while the others circled him but didn’t touch or move him.

“Stiles?” his dad asked gently, “Can we help you back into bed son?” he whispered.

“Daddy?” Stiles choked out and made grabby hands in some direction then his father was on his knees next to Stiles and dragging him upright enough to hug. Stiles pressed his hands around his father’s shoulders and let the man help him back into the bed though he didn’t help much and he wouldn’t let anyone else touch him until he was sitting up on the bed and shaking, afraid to look around the room after that little display.

“Stiles?” Mrs. McCall asked, “I need to check you over. It looks like the epinephrine was just enough to knock you out of the catatonia but we are going to need to take a drug panel and figure out what was given to you and maybe when.”

The teenager nodded but kept holding onto his dad’s hand as Scott’s mom easily shifted into Nurse McCall mode. She ran a couple of tests, took blood and then in an embarrassing circumstance, his dad helped waddle him into the bathroom for a urine sample and so he could relieve himself. He’d had to sit down on the toilet which he hadn’t done since he’d been potty trained as a toddler before his dad helped him back to the bed.

Hs arms and legs still felt heavy so he leaned into his father heavily until he was safely ensconced into his bed again then noticed that not only his dad and Derek were there as well as Lydia, Jackson and Allison. Stiles frowned at the Hunter Princess in surprised, “You’re here?” he whispered, his voice raw from the screaming.

She nodded but said nothing, the pretty brunette was standing as far away from Scott as she possibly could while being in the same room but she was here. Stiles smiled at Lydia and Jackson, the jock just crossed his arms and glared at Stiles.

He turned back to Derek and dad, “Thank you.”

“You scared us kiddo,” his dad whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of Stiles’s head and rubbed a hand over his buzz cut. Stiles leaned into the touch slightly, feeling vaguely like a cat pressing into a human’s hand but didn’t care.

“Sorry Dad,” Stiles murmured then shifted his gaze back to Derek.

“I have to get out of the hospital, he’s too close here,” he said to the beta.

“Who? What the hell is going on?” the sheriff demanded.

Derek shook his head, “We can’t talk here, it’s not safe after all. I’m sorry, I didn’t think he would be willing to go this far.”

Stiles shook his head then winced when a headache bloomed at the base of his neck and sparked up to his head. He shuddered as he attempted to bring his arm up close enough to rub at his eyes but couldn’t do it.

“Dad?” Stiles whispered forlornly.

“Yeah Son?” he returned, sounding a bit choked himself.

“Everything still hurts,” he mumbled back, feeling feeble and not at all like Batman. He wasn’t brave or strong enough to be anything as cool as a superhero. He was barely more than mediocre, especially standing next to Derek who had retained a good spirit despite the things that happened to him, his dad who constantly gave everything to the safety of this town and Scott who was becoming strong enough to fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.

“Stiles,” Melissa said gently bringing him out of the spiral suddenly surprised that Lydia and Jackson weren’t there anymore and his dad was staring at him in shock. The teenager frowned, “What happened?”

“I think you blacked out for a little while,” Mrs. McCall stated calmly.

“Excuse me?” Stiles squeaked, making Scott snicker inappropriately which just made Stiles feel better about the whole dang world. Scott who didn’t know what to do in these kinds of situations was still in there, Stiles hadn’t gotten hurt for nothing then.

“Scott!” Mrs. McCall chided then refocused on Stiles, “It probably has to do with the just barely non-lethal dose of ketamine that’s being flushed from your system at the moment. The toxicology report came back. We are trying to figure out who gave it to you but it’s going to take a little time for it to wash out completely. Give it time and we aren’t going to leave you alone, I am going to be the only nurse and I have a doctor coming in who wasn’t here at all until we figure out what happened. The hospital is on the line for attempted murder on the Sheriff’s son and no one wants that. They are sparring nothing to figure out what happened.”

Stiles nodded though he needed to get out of here so they could all talk candidly because it was Peter’s nurse and though he’d been over to the long-term care unit, he didn’t remember the name of the nurses, he’d been focused on finding out about Peter.

Then again there was information in his room but it had been illegally appropriated and he didn’t think that was going to help the situation. “Is this room monitored?” he asked quietly.

“Sadly no, otherwise we would be able to tell you who the possible suspects are.”

The Sheriff frowned at his son, “Stiles?” He looked around and took stock that Mrs. McCall, his dad, Scott and Derek were in the room who were the main parties that he needed and wanted to talk to about this. Allison was gone as well as Lydia and Jackson but he didn’t need them in here for this. He needed to talk to his dad, try to convince him of werewolves and the alpha.

“Close the door, we need to talk about all the details of this case that we haven’t been able to talk about,” Stiles said. Scott stepped up next to him and pressed his hand into Stiles’s wrist and though Stiles wondered how much of what he heard when he was trapped in his body was real he needed to deal with the fact that his father believed Derek’s medical advice because of something he’d heard and smelled.

“Are you sure you want to do this now? Here?”

Stiles nodded, “We don’t have a choice, we’re all a part of this now and if he’s willing to attack me under the guard of the sheriff and Derek and Scott then he’s clearly more unhinged than we originally guessed.”

Mrs. McCall nodded and walked towards the door to close it when it slammed open and Peter strode in. Stiles shouted a warning, watching as Peter’s claws flashed, his brilliant red eyes flashing into the room as the Sheriff turned and empty his hastily drawn gun into Peter’s chest but it didn’t stop the werewolf from slashing towards Stiles’s father. The teenager scrambled, trying to get out of the bed and go to his father while someone held him down, someone was shouting his name for some reason.

“No, save my dad! Let me go now!” he screamed but the arms holding him down refused to let go as Peter’s claws slashed across the sheriff’s throat, his body spinning towards Stiles with blood bursting from the slashed artery and he fell, with his eyes open and shocked. “No, no no nonono Peter stop this! Don’t do this!”

“Stiles!” Derek shouted, there was something in the words, a power that Stiles had to listen to and didn’t know the beta had. It was enough to shake him loose from the sight of his dad on the ground with an ever-growing pool of blood around his head, “You’re seeing things Stiles, your dad is fine.”

Stiles snapped upright and shook his head at that, looking again to see his father was standing next to him, Stiles flopped forward to hug his dad with an unavoidable sob, “What’s happening to me?”

“Hallucinations,” Mrs. McCall said as she locked the door and Stiles looked around but didn’t see Peter anywhere, he sighed in relief.  “Lovely side-effects of the ketamine, I didn’t know what the epinephrine would do to you but we had to take a chance to wake you up. I could actually get into a lot of trouble for doing it but we’re flushing your body with saline but some of this you are just going to have ride it out. Thankfully it seemed like whoever did this wanted to hurt you and scare you, not kill you but that’s not going to change the attempted murder that they are going to get charged with.”

“You’re going to get into trouble?” Stiles asked quietly, saddened by that for some reason even as he curled into his dad’s shoulder who just kept holding him. The Sheriff didn’t even question the sudden cuddle-fest, proving that the man had been scared.

“Don’t worry about that now Stiles,” Mrs. McCall said as she walked back over and sat down on a nearby chair. “What did you need to tell us?”

“First of all, Peter Hale is the one committing all these murders,” Stiles said and the only one looking around in confusion was of course, his father. Then he looked over at Derek who nodded forlornly, wincing a little in the face of his uncle’s actions.

“He’s no longer catatonic in the long-term unit?” the sheriff asked.

“I’m surprised that you know about that,” Stiles exclaimed though he didn’t know why it surprised him. His dad tried to keep up with a lot of old cases, the survivors and victims. It had never been in a way that kept him for long periods of time away from his family or anything but the Hale fire had been one of those cases that stuck with everyone in the precinct, Stiles knew that from being there all the time as a child.

“Kid, I knew where Laura and Derek ended up in New York for a long time because they were the emergency contacts for Peter and I kept an ear out for anything because of your mother’s love of the family. Just because I didn’t agree with Talia Hale or trust her, didn’t mean that I shut them out of everything in this town and in my job.”

“No, just your son’s life,” Stiles snipped and everyone shifted to look at him. “Sorry, that was unnecessary.”

“It wasn’t,” the Sheriff said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, “You and I have a lot to talk about and I have a feeling we are both going to get angry before the end. So, is Peter still in his room officially?”

Mrs. McCall answered, looking down at something on her phone, possibly a way to communicate with other nurses on the floor or whatever. “He isn’t in his room, no one noticed when he left and he’s been reported missing and a person of interest.”

“You can do all that from here?” Stiles asked excitedly.

Mrs. McCall rolled her eyes at him and ignored his question. Stiles turned back to Scott and Derek before he looked at his dad, thinking about what happened when he was trapped.

“You were talking to Derek before I woke up,” Stiles stated and his dad nodded.

“You heard?”

“Yes,” Stiles responded. “You and Derek have a secret and I want to know what the hell it is!”

Derek and the Sheriff looked at each other in surprise, then looked at Stiles who was sitting impatiently waiting while they thought it over all the while looking ridiculously guilty. Derek stumbled around until he could sit down at the foot of the bed and took a couple deep breaths then spoke, “What your father and I know that you don’t, its private and awful. I will tell you someday but not today and not with all these people around. I didn’t even know until recently that there was something else going on, it wasn’t until you told me about your mom being friends with my mother. There was a woman, whose husband was a deputy, I didn’t even hear their names and I didn’t really think about it very much. He was the one who found me after something bad happened and he suspected something about us but it was never an issue. That’s all I knew. I didn’t know that deputy was Sheriff Stilinski until very recently.”

“I don’t understand,” Stiles said, to be fair he didn’t think anyone could have understood that because it was ridiculously vague and Stiles understood and remembered that there was something in Derek’s past before the fire that hurt him, which sent him into Kate’s arms as it were but he didn’t know any more than that. He didn’t understand what that meant about his dad.

“What Derek is trying really hard to say without saying anything at all,” the Sheriff said with a quick roll of his eyes, “Is that, I don’t know much but I am aware of the supernatural and that the Hale family is something different, something more than human.”

Stiles stared at his father in shock, mouth hanging open in a great picture of a guppy. Scott reached out and pushed his chin up and his teeth snapped together with an uncomfortable grind. Didn’t matter since it just fell open again and he immediately snapped, “You laughed at me when I tried to come to you! What the fuck was that all about?”

“Language Stiles,” his dad said as he rubbed his head tiredly. “You have every reason to be angry about that, I didn’t know what to say because the thing that Derek doesn’t know that happened at the same time, another long story is why I didn’t trust Talia Hale or the supernatural. It’s not necessary to this conversation right now.”

“It’s a necessary conversation later Dad, I mean it!” Stiles hissed, pointing his finger in his dad’s face. His dad just grabbed his hand and put it down on his lap. Stiles kept glaring at him for another minute then heaved a sigh as his body settled back on the bed feeling tired.

“You okay?” Derek asked, pressing a hand gently on Stiles’s knee and the teenager nodded. He wanted to reach down and touch Derek but he didn’t, not with so many people around. Whatever they had was odd and unexplainable, they didn’t even have a name for it for crying out loud, there was no reason to force it at the moment. The contact was enough to help steady Stiles mentally and physically.

He took a deep breath and started again, “Okay without the excitement of introducing my dad to the supernatural, this becomes slightly simpler. Peter Hale is the alpha that bit Scott, he attacked us at the school and he has at least one nurse on his side. I am guessing that’s who dosed me. I am the wild card to Peter, someone who is willing to fight him, able to mentally figure him out and I won’t take the Bite. Of course, that means that I am going to apparently end up in the hospital.”

“Not if we stay together,” Scott said.

Stiles stared at his friend then reached up and touched the wrap that was covering the scratches on his shoulder where Scott had cut him. His best friend had the decency to look down sheepishly, “You are going to train with Derek before the other night happens again because it will.”

Scott nodded and everyone frowned between the two of them, Stiles didn’t want to make it publicly known to his dad and Scott’s mom at that the sweet little Scottie McCall is the main reason that Stiles was in the hospital to begin with but that didn’t mean who wouldn’t use it to make sure his best friend learned control, learned how to deny access from the alpha.

“Okay so its Peter Hale killing people? Why?” the Sheriff asked.

Derek visible swallowed, cleared his throat and spoke, “The fire, undoubtedly someone must have known who was responsible for the fire, what happened that day. Uncle Peter found out his targets and started killing them. I remember my uncle as a manipulative beast but he’d never been like this but that day he lost his wife, his mate, and their unborn child. That would change anyone but a werewolf, too much loss like that can and will simply destroy one of us. And he almost died as well, he is desperate to build another pack but one that he can control, so he can fight the hunters and gain vengeance for the death of his family.”

“But Laura was his niece?” the Sheriff asked and Stiles watched his dad because the man was much more plugged into the Hale family than he’d ever been aware of. What the hell happened before the fire that his dad doesn’t want to talk about. Derek said there was something that happened, the reason his eyes were blue instead of gold, like Scott’s eyes but Stiles knew that he was going to have to wait for that story. The second he had his father alone though, he was getting the man to talk—about everything.

“She was an alpha he knew, she would have fought him,” Derek coughed, tilting his head down to hide whatever uncontrollable emotion was on his face. Stiles reached out before he could consider what he was doing and pressed a finger to the edge of his shoulder, asking for permission and Derek nodded so Stiles pressed his hand over the werewolf’s shoulder and into his collarbone for a second. He squeezed the muscle and sinewy under his hand then rubbed along the back of his neck, letting Derek find his never-ending control and continue. He ignored the burning gaze of his father, he knew it was there but Stiles didn’t have time for it right now.

They were undoubtedly going to have a father-son conversation that would put all others in the history of the world to shame so he would deal with it then, for now Derek needed support which he has allowed Stiles to give—a support he had allowed from _only_ Stiles.

“Laura was strong but she didn’t want to have a pack, one built by her. She was okay with just the two of us, I didn’t know anything about how I felt or should feel so I followed her. She was my older sister and she was all I had for a long time. Uncle Peter needed the power and apparently, he was okay with bringing her here and taking it from her. I don’t know what happened there but maybe he offered to let her stay as a beta if she would will the power to him but all we know is that she’s dead and he’s an alpha.”

“How do we stop him?” the sheriff asked, quickly getting to the crux of the matter.

Derek looked over at Scott then Stiles, the teenager knew what he was thinking, well maybe he did. Scott, Jackson and Allison needed an alpha which means they had to take care of Peter, they couldn’t just turn the werewolf over to the hunters and let it be done and then there was the hunters. Stiles knew that with Kate in town, Scott and Stiles, plus the others were all on death row, just waiting for the needle. All Kate apparently needed was confirmation of the supernatural before she would kill them.

“What?” the sheriff demanded.

“We have to take care of Peter before the hunters find him, Scott and the others need an alpha,” Stiles blurted out then slapped a hand over his mouth.

“What others? What hunters?”

Stiles winced and Derek glared at him. He turned back to the sheriff and spoke respectful and not at all growly which was still surprising to the teenager because mostly Derek just growled at all of them really, “Sir, this is a dangerous conversation and one we can’t truly have here or anywhere else we could be overheard. We need to get the others out of here, especially Stiles. He’s in the most danger here. We need to stick close to Lydia, Jackson and Allison as well. We all need more information, to be on the same page but it can’t be here.”

“So be it, I need to speak to the doctors about Stiles and make a plan,” the sheriff pointed at Derek, Scott and Mrs. McCall consecutively and stated, “Don’t leave him alone.”

They all nodded and then he walked out of the room and closed the door. Mrs. McCall checked a couple of things, then walked over and let in the other three who walked over to the bed, “Are you okay? We heard you shouting?” Allison asked, all sweetness and dimples.

Stiles waved them off, “Don’t worry about it, just the utter joy of being drugged.”

“Drugged?” Lydia asked, crossing her arms and looking amazed and annoyed at the same time somehow. “How could he drug you here in the hospital?”

“He had help, duh,” Stiles responded and Scott snorted because Stiles had never said anything like that to Lydia ever and Stiles knew this must be a change from the Stiles-loves-Lydia routine he’d been witness to for so long. She glared at him them Jackson coughed and it took a minute for them to actually turn to see if he was okay and when they did, he had a little trickle of something coming out of his nose.

Lydia gasped, “Jackson, what is that?”

In a flurry of movement, Jackson rushed out of the room with Allison and Lydia right behind him, Scott walked across the room and turned back to Stiles, “I need to find my mother, she needs to be the one to talk to Jackson about whatever is happening.”

“Go, keep him out of trouble,” Stiles order and Scott nodded and then he was gone too. It was just him and Derek, Stiles looked back to his werewolf friend who was staring at him in bewilderment. “What?”

“Scott listens to you, they are all listening to you. You could help them, give them some leadership,” Derek whispered.

Stiles frowned, “I don’t know what you mean.” He shifted off of the bed, grabbing some clothes that his father brought for him and immediately started pulling them on. He was a little sore still, making his movements slow and juddering but Derek just let him keep getting dressed on his own, they were both faced away from the door when it snicked open and Stiles turned to greet whoever was there when something came down at him and struck him hard across the face and everything went black.

His last thought being, _‘Seriously? What the hell?’_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And from here on out, who knows whats going to happen everyone.
> 
> Slightly updated 2-17-2017


	11. A Real Anchor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is taken. Was it Hunters? Kate? Peter?  
> Can Scott and Derek band together to get him back and can they do it all in time for the full moon when the nascent wolves will turn for the first time.... without an Alpha.
> 
> Slight Trigger Warning, in the notes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be adding new tags after this chapter. Go to the end for more information if you feel the need.

Derek snapped upright, hitting Scott in the face with his head and they both wince and hiss out in pain, each grabbing at the aching spot even as the hurt echoed quietly into the back of his mind. It healed quicker than he could track, as well as whatever injury that had laid him out in the first place. Then he immediately looked around the hospital room and wondered why he’d been out in the first place. What was going on?

Then he noticed what was missing, the worried voice and the relentless chatter that he really shouldn’t be so comforted by, “What happened? Where’s Stiles?”

Scott looked around growling low in his throat, he was learning how to listen to his wolf Derek thought but right now wasn’t the time to be showing anyone. Derek looked around again, noticing that Mrs. McCall was sitting outside the room with her head in hand and the Sheriff was just standing in the hall looking at the floor bereft. Derek clambered to his feet, away from Scott who was still grumbling but it was fading into something more like a whine. Derek stopped long enough to press a comforting hand into Scott’s shoulder before he stumbled out of the room. He rushed over to the Sheriff and gripped his shoulder. The older man turned and swung at Derek immediately, the werewolf easily could have dodged or stopped the fist from making contact but he didn’t, he took the hit and allowed the resonance of aching pain shift from his face and down into his neck but he didn’t let the man go. He shook off the hit and spoke, “I am not going to let you keep punching me but I deserved that after not being ready. I wasn’t expecting someone to come after us her and I didn’t think they would touch him now what happened to Stiles?”

“We were distracted, Jackson started bleeding from the nose and it was black. Melissa was trying to stay with him, Lydia and Allison as well which caused another problem when the Argents came in and decided that their daughter couldn’t keep sticking around here with her friends. She threw a pretty epic tantrum and in the distraction, someone, several of them actually, walked into Stiles’s room. They hit you with something that put you on the ground fast and hard if the witnesses are to be believed then a couple of people dragged an unconscious Stiles out of here and no one stopped them!”

Derek did a quick scan of his body but whatever injury he incurred, undoubtedly a shock stick, healed upon him waking. There wouldn’t be anything to prove he’d been hit to begin with. If it was Peter then his nurse had been here but this had hunters written all over it, especially if Kate had gotten in touch with some of her favored lackeys. From what Derek had seen so far with Chris Argent, he ‘followed’ the Code a little more fervently than his sister did and there was more evidence over the past couple of months that Stiles was spending time with Derek, much more time than Scott ever had and the hunters knew that there was a second beta. She could have taken Stiles; Peter could have taken him too and he wouldn’t really know which had him until he started looking.

“I am going to find him sir,” Derek vowed to the man who took a deep breath and walked away from the werewolf without another word. Derek didn’t take it personally, how could he? Derek had promised the man he would make sure that Stiles was safe and he’d done a shitty job of it so far. The least he could do was get the teenager back safe to his father’s arms. Derek got it better than most, the Sheriff could not lose his son. And Derek wasn’t going to let that happen.

He wasn’t going to lose anyone else, not if he still had the chance to get him back. They were all going to have to band together, the full moon was coming. They were racing against time with two new wolves, one that they needed to protect from her own family. Derek didn’t know what to do, how to be an alpha but he figured it was time to get some advice from someone at least who knew a couple more alphas than he did, maybe he would also know where Derek could start looking for Stiles.

He walked back to the room where Scott was sitting on the floor, rocking a little with his hands pressed into his skull with his hair standing up in funny directions. Derek leaned down and pressed a hand to Scott’s shoulder but he just shook Derek off.

“Scott we need to figure out our next move, I need your help to find him okay?”

The teenager nodded and struggled to his feet, all unsure gawky teen-style and Derek wondered where all his werewolf grace had gone to but he didn’t need to ask. Derek had been born a werewolf and he’d had a gawky stupid stage too and emotionally turbulent events could cause even the most graceful wolf stumble. He shook it off, helped Scott despite the teenager’s total lack of desire to be helped and they headed out together. Scott spoke to his mother for a moment and she hugged him hard and he heard her whisper, “Find him Scott! Don’t let him be hurt anymore by this okay?”

Derek watched as Melissa kissed her son on the forehead before she looked over at Derek. “Will you keep an eye on Jackson and Lydia?” he asked her gently, hating the idea of asking for more but they needed him to ask.

She nodded, “Their parents are here and they want to take the kids home, I don’t know how long I can keep them but I will try and make sure their safe.”

Derek gave a single tilt of his chin in acknowledgement because that was all she could do then walked out of the hospital and grabbed his phone with Scott walking behind him. Derek dialed the emergency number and waited for Deaton to answer. It took a couple of rings then the veterinarian did answer and Derek started simply with, “I need your help please?”

“Derek, what is it?” Deaton asked and Scott gasped from just behind him.

He demanded, “Is that Deaton?”

Derek nodded but focused on the only man who might be able to help them at least get started, “Stiles was taken, it could have been the hunters or the alpha. I need to be able to find him but I also have new wolves and a full moon baring down on us.”

“Derek I don’t know where to find him, he’s your pack-mate and I know you can find him if you let go. That’s going to be up to you but there might be something I could do to keep the moon from affecting the others for a little while or maybe at least give you another option but I am going to need some time to put it into place. We’ll figure this out Derek.”

He nodded even though he knew that Deaton couldn’t see him, this was a man that his mother trusted so he would trust him too even though trust was a limited commodity in this world especially to someone who had lost everyone because he trusted the wrong person. “You know I am putting not just my life in your hands but also the lives of my pack? I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t want it but now I have it and I can’t lose them again.”

“I understand Derek and it’s not something I have ever taken lightly, not with your mother and the Hales and definitely not now,” Deaton responded and then hung up. Derek stared at the phone and rolled his eyes, he still didn’t have a place to start with Stiles but if there was something Deaton could do for Jackson and Allison then that was something. Scott would probably need something too since his anchor was Allison, reminding Derek of all the times that his mother had cautioned him and his siblings that they shouldn’t use romantic anchors because when those memories get soured by breaking up, it can make the anchor unusable and now all the work that Stiles and Derek did for Scott’s control might have been for nothing since Allison wouldn’t even be in the same room as Scott since the attack at the school. He would need something else, Derek would need something else because the problem with building a new pack even if he hadn’t really meant to start he was losing some of his anger, that crucial feeling he’d been using for years now. He needed that anger to stay in control and he was starting to lose the hold he had on it before, despite what was happening with Peter, everything just felt raw and broken and the anger wasn’t as easily obtainable anymore.

“Deaton is supernatural?” Scott demanded after a second of silence.

Derek shrugged, “I don’t know actually, he just knows a lot about the supernatural. He knew my mother; I didn’t know it was your Deaton until I called him about something recently.” Derek did not share that Stiles knew and that the teenager had threatened to tell but hadn’t yet. It was just going to be another lie between friends and Scott didn’t need that now when they were all stressed out and he still wasn’t the greatest at control.

“Okay so what do we do?” Scott asked as he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, visual cues of someone trying to maintain calm in an awful situation. Derek thought about it then took a deep breath through his nose and tried desperately to find Stiles’s scent, as a born werewolf he knew scent better than Scott who hadn’t had enough time to associate everything he knew about Stiles’s scent but he was the teenager’s best friend and he could do it.

“Do you know his scent?” Derek whispered and Scott frowned at him.

Derek took in another deep breath and sought out the scents of Stiles, Derek didn’t know how many words he’d considered and started thinking of as scents when it came to the teenager, there was the sharp scent of anxiety, the moldy scent of old grief then there was the sweet scent of intelligence and cleverness, things that shouldn’t have a scent to them but every werewolf knew that they were a part of each person if a pack-mate was willing to learn it. The fear Stiles had felt in this room was strong but what was even stronger was the tenacity in the teenager that meant he was always going to keep moving forward, he was always going to fight for his father and his family. Derek took in the scents of the hospital and searched for the scent of pack, wondering if they had enough of a pack bond for him to feel it but Stiles was human and if it was there, it was intangible and therefore unhelpful.

Then he caught the edge of something, the scent of his friend and watched as Scott caught it too, “There’s something. The smell of the hospital is almost too much to detect his scent but it’s there. I don’t know if that means anything but maybe we can follow it.”

Derek nodded and they walked out, Derek wanted to press a hand to the Sheriff’s shoulder again in comfort but he didn’t deserve to. He needed to find Stiles and get him back to his father before he could even think that the man had any reason to trust him. Instead he shared a quick look with the man and nodded, trying to show Stilinski the resolve he had. No one was going to take another family member from the Sheriff and another pack-mate from Derek, not if he had any power to do something about it.

Scott and Derek made it outside the hospital and the born wolf looked around, pulling in deep breaths and finding the scent he was looking for. There were drugs and pain in the air, it was making it difficult to scent Stiles but Derek figured that the teenager must have been dragged out of here because there was enough of a scent to get across the parking lot only to disappear.

“Are you serious!” Scott shouted, proving that he was learning enough to know they had hit the end without Derek saying anything. He looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to them before shifting into his beta form and took in the extra intense scents of the world, sometimes that transition was still a bit much and Scott was gasping in horror when he saw Derek’s shifted face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing Hale!?”

“I can smell things better in this form,” Derek said with a little bit of a lisp.

“You’re in the fucking hospital parking lot where the daughter of werewolf hunters is still being cared for. The Argents are here and if they see me with you like this I am definitely out of the bag!”

Derek grabbed at the front of Scott’s shirt and growled in his face, “This is your best friend Scott! We’re all in danger, every single one of us and now because of you and Peter and me, Stiles is gone!”

Scott pushed him off, his eyes flashing gold. “You are the reason he’s in this mess right now! You just couldn’t stay away from him! You clearly don’t care about him the way he does you and yet here you are making things confusing for him! They know about you Derek, not me and you were hanging around with him in the hospital. You came to him specifically and stayed with him. Allison was at the hospital and her aunt was obviously there, Peter knows that you came here for him. You broadcast to everyone who ever wanted to hurt you, destroy you, that Stiles was the weakness that they could exploit. I didn’t do that! It’s on you!”

Derek shifted back under the righteous anger of Scott McCall and Stiles was right, he was annoying when he was like this and it was even more annoying that he was right. He could hear Kate’s voice in his head, _‘Anything you’ve ever loved, you don’t deserve it. You’re a monster and you’re going to get them all killed.’_

But it didn’t stop there, he heard Peter’s words from the school: _‘Remember the last time you cared for someone like that, it didn’t turn out well for either one of you._ ’.

He thought about the un-kept promises he made to the Sheriff, he thought of all the times when Laura and he stepped away from friendships because they were just going to get people killed. He got his family killed, he wasn’t there for Laura when she needed him. He wasn’t here even for Peter; he’d chosen to run rather than be faced with the truth of his uncle every single day.

He was better off going as soon as he found Stiles, they wouldn’t ever be better off with him here. “I’ll help you find him then go. I’ll leave town and hopeful take most of the problems with me,” he whispered.

Scott deflated, “What?” he squeaked.

“You’re right, I should have never allowed him to be close to me. I know better than anyone that all I can ever do is bring more misery to myself and others. I’ll help you find him then go.”

Derek turned and started walking, dejected and hurt and betrayed by his own heart. He should have never let Stiles under his skin and into his soul. It wasn’t because of Stiles; it was because of Derek and the destruction that he brought so easily to everyone so easily.

“Wait!” Scott said, sounding exactly like the kicked puppy voice he uses so much and Derek ignored him. “You didn’t say you didn’t care about him.”

“Why would I?” Derek said as he continued walking because he didn’t know what to do or where to go he just had to get away from here. “I do care about him and I have no idea what it means, I can’t see him continue to get hurt because I care. He’s worth so much more than that.”

Scott stopped behind Derek, coming to a shuffling stop, “Derek. I was stupid, I didn’t mean it. He would hate me if I didn’t say this but he wouldn’t want you to go. He was desperate to find a way that you could stay. I’m just scared of losing my best friend. I’m scared that my selfishness is the reason we’re really here, I just spewed all that on you.”

Derek shrugged and continued walking so Scott rushed to catch up, “It doesn’t change what I have to do. I won’t be the reason another pack dies.”

“What?” Scott shrieked and Derek really wished he could have described it some other way but the kid sounded like a woman for a second there and it made him wince but he didn’t stop. He was heading to the Stilinski house since he had no idea where else he might start. It would help if he knew what bad guy had Stiles but the only way to do that was to be caught or make contact with one of them, hoping not to show his hands which there is no way he wouldn’t show every card in his hand. Peter already knew what Stiles meant to Derek, or at least had an inkling, sensed the pack bond. If Derek going to Stiles in the hospital brought Kate Argent down on Stiles’s head, then that was on him.

Even now he tried to think back to what brought him to the hospital in the first place, he’d gotten a message from Stiles and he’d felt the desperate need to get there and be with him. He hadn’t been able to curb the instinct that Stiles needed him so he went. He couldn’t describe the feeling inside of him when he heard Stiles sobbing, the need to wrap the teenager up in his arms until he could breathe again was a necessity not a choice for Derek. He couldn’t help feeling a moment of déjà vu to the times when he’d woken up in the middle of the night screaming and crying for his mother, for someone from the pack that wasn’t around anymore and his sister wrapping herself around his shaking body until he could sleep again sometimes days later. He’d almost _felt_ Stiles’s fear and desperate need to not be alone.

Now he was alone again and it needed to stop!

Scott was silent as they got closer to Stiles’s house and Derek didn’t talk though he knew the teen was fuming, he smelled the concern and anger and it was trying to choke Derek. He kept moving, it was all he could do.

“We need to find out who has him,” Derek muttered.

“Peter or the Argents, right?” Scott asked, like there were other bad guys in town.

Derek nodded, “Specifically this has to be Kate, not the Argents, there isn’t any proof that Stiles is a werewolf so Allison’s dad wouldn’t dare touch him especially since he’s the Sheriff’s kid. This is Kate, she is erratic enough to do it. Or it could be Peter, he wants to turn Stiles. I felt that in Peter at the school more so than even his desire to control you and Jackson. There’s something about Stiles that is desirable to him but I would have felt him in the hospital, he’s family and pack no matter how removed he is from me now that I’m aware of his identity.”

“Okay, so where would she take him?” Scott asked, slapping his hands together, ready to get to the bottom of this.

“We need to check the Hale house, the warehouse, the Argent’s house and maybe check and see if they have any other holdings in town, maybe the Sheriff can help with that though I imagine he needs a warrant for that.”

“Undoubtedly but then we haven’t been playing by the rules for a while now, let’s call in some help,” Scott said, looking around like the help was going to crawl out of the woods. Derek continued to the front door and waited as Scott stepped forward and clicked the door open with a key. It doesn’t surprised Derek that Scott had keys to the Stilinski residence, it would have been more surprising if he didn’t have it.

“Help from where?” Derek asked as they walked inside the house. Scott walked away, upstairs and into Stiles’s bedroom if he remembered correctly. When he came back down he had a shirt and a sweater. Derek recognized the red hoodie that Stiles liked to wear most of the time and took it from Scott and breathed in the fresh concentrated scent of Stiles. He held the sweater in his hands and looked over as Scott sniffed at his friend’s shirt, looking a little weirded out about it. Derek smirked at the look, watching as Scott tapped out something on his phone then shoved it back in his pocket.

“Jackson’s friend Danny, he knows a lot about computers, he might be able to help with some of the Argent stuff. Where else should we start? Should we split up or stay together?”

Derek thought about where they could start, if Kate suspected Stiles as the second beta than it was possible that maybe Scott could go to the Argent house as the spurned boyfriend and beg for an audience, sniff around to see if Stiles was there, Derek could go to the warehouse and the Hale house, maybe he could contact Peter and see what the alpha knew, he would try not to show their hand but Stiles was more important. Peter might turn him which would be bad, especially because Stiles didn’t want to be a werewolf but Kate would kill him for sure.

“Do you think you can go see Allison and play the besotted sad boyfriend, see if Stiles is there? Sniff around?”

“I don’t have to play at it,” Scott mumbled and Derek snorted.

“Okay, well I have your cell number, keep in contact and meet back here when you are done. Stay away from Peter, if you see Kate and think you can follow her without being seen, then do it but don’t get caught yourself.”

Scott gave a snappy salute and headed out. Derek took the sweater with him on the way out, locking the doors and taking another deep breath of Stiles’s scent just to help steady himself, to give him something to focus on. Unless he surfaced again he didn’t think it would matter, Stiles’s scent would have been long gone. He didn’t want to put the sweater down though, it made him feel closer to the owner and like he could do something.

He started off in the direction of the warehouse district, he didn’t know what he would find there but he had to check. Kate might guess that Derek wouldn’t return because she’d found him there but he needed to know if she was there or not. He took a deep breath and moved into a jog, as he got farther away from the center of town and into the district where he’d been staying for the last couple of weeks and then really put on the werewolf speed since there was no one to see him. He needed to start knocking places off the list though he knew there were plenty of places on the outskirts of town where someone could disappear with a person for a couple of days and that was the worst of this. He couldn’t believe that Kate had made it out of there with Stiles and no one stopped her.

Unless it was Peter.

Derek growled and kept running, he didn’t know how much time passed but soon he was running closer to his warehouse, he could see the darkness inside but that was nothing. He walked over to the only door and tugged it open a little bit but there was nothing from what he could hear. The run didn’t even leave Derek tired or out of breath, he was used to running. What he wasn’t used to doing was standing and fighting for what he wanted and if Stiles wasn’t here then he would just continue onto the next location. He took another deep breath but only smelled the stale smells of himself and Stiles, even Kate which made him sneer at the scent.

With a sigh Derek turned around and took a deep breath, freezing in his position as he took in the scent of someone, it was family or pack. There was that sense of familiarity and he knew it was Peter, lurking about. There was no one else after all.

“Uncle Peter?” he called.

The man walked out from the shadows, wearing a neat button up shirt and a leather duster over black jeans and shit kicker boots. He noticed the glint of steel on the toe, more as a fashion statement than anything at this point. He wasn’t going to be using his feet and human form to fight people.

“My dear nephew,” Peter said with a toothy grin, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be watching your little human?”

Derek growled, low in his throat and looked around, seeing if there was a good way to run that would get him back to town the fastest, he didn’t have time for his uncle and he also didn’t have time to run him down since Peter was clearly standing in the path the beta would need to take.

“Unless…” Peter started and took a step closer. Derek didn’t flinch back a half step, it was a close thing though more of a stumbling sway. His uncle was grinning, his teeth lengthening and Derek’s heartbeat picked up at the sight. Peter was too clever by half, they weren’t going to get out of this unless they had someone equally clever, which meant Stiles.

Derek knew it was ridiculous to trust in a seventeen-year-old spastic idiot but he’d been around the teenager long enough to realize that he’d been raised in a house where being clever was the only way to be. And just because it was ridiculous didn’t make it any less true.

“Did you lose him too?” Peter asked and Derek really did flinch backwards like he’d been struck. His back pressed suddenly against the wall of the building and he looked around. He tried to think about what his options were. He wasn’t clever, Derek was a straightforward thinker, Scott was a straightforward thinker. Allison, Lydia and Jackson were too new to this world not to mention he knew nothing about them besides that Jackson is a smarmy douche (Stiles’s words), Lydia is a cold Ice Queen who would rather act stupid then be herself and Allison was an Argent. He was alone.

He was alone because of Peter, Derek thought with a grumbling growl in his throat. He looked over at his uncle, his heartbeat settling in realization of the rage at losing not one but three more pack-mates. The last time had been the fire, Derek had been too young to fight back but not anymore. He didn’t know much about fighting, wasn’t strong enough without the others but neither was Peter.

“You killed Laura,” Derek growled, his teeth lengthening and his face shifting into his beta form.

He had to survive, he had to change otherwise he wasn’t going to ever be able to protect this nascent pack. Peter didn’t want _any of them_ but Derek did, in some tiny hidden hopeful place, he’d wanted this.

Derek wasn’t going to stop fighting for it. He thought about the rage within but there was something else that was bright there at the core of him. He reached for it, there was nothing there about the anger and devastation of his losses again. At the core, he felt the laughter and the strong taste of sarcasm all bottled up in his new pack-mate, the one who let him believe for even a second that he, _Derek Hale_ deserved a friend. He stared at Peter, watching the look of astonishment on his face even as Derek felt the shift happening.

He wanted to scream, to howl and tell the world that he’d found it.

Derek Hale found something stronger than rage. Even if it was intimate and vulnerable, it was _strong!_

And he was free once more, there was still pain and memories but they were far away at the moment. Right now, he only felt the desire to protect his pack and his territory and the growl he let loose said those things more clearly than any words would have done. Even as he settled on four legs, he was still extremely tall, coming up to Peter’s waist, looking down he saw paws instead of hands with claws. He could see his own snout, and he had the black pelt of his mother. Derek flashed his eyes and tilted his head back and howled for his pack, whoever was listening would hear the jubilation and the power in this form.

“Well this is a surprise, how did you come by that form? I have not seen it since long before the fire,” Peter baited him even as Derek shook out of his clothes, stepping out of his shoes and the leather jacket that thankfully didn’t rip in the transition. His teeth grasped at the t-shirt and pulled it off, ripping it down the side in his rush to face down his uncle. The wolf wouldn’t let him turn his back on the alpha, it was too dangerous.

Derek snapped his jaws together and took a menacing step closer to his uncle, he could feel the slobber turning into foam around the edges of his snout as he growled and snapped at the alpha. There was nothing in Derek that wanted this creature as his alpha. He was going to protect his pack with or without the power, no matter what.

“Did you do that because of this little pack _I_ am making dear nephew, they will never belong to you, and I will find Stiles and I am going to take him for myself as you do not have the guts to do it for yourself.”

Derek launched forward at the threat before he had time to rationally think about what it meant to attack an alpha, even one without a pack. Peter howled and Derek snapped his teeth as he launched up and into Peter’s chest, latching teeth to a rapidly growing neck and shoulders. His clothes ripped under the onslaught from Derek’s teeth and Peter’s shift.

“This is madness nephew!” Peter shouted even as Derek clamped his teeth harder into Peter’s neck and the man stopped shifting. Derek quickly used his strength to drop the man to the ground and he shifted his teeth a little farther over his throat and started to squeeze, feeling the give of flesh.

“You kill me and you’re all alone,” Peter whispered, his voice gurgling under the pressure of a wolf’s much stronger jaw. He wasn’t fighting and it broke through the red haze that had crept over Derek in that moment. He released Peter’s throat and the man stayed down, his clothes in tatters on his body, blood flowing from the wounds caused by Derek’s teeth and claws though they were quickly healing. Derek stumbled backwards onto his haunches and heaved a sigh. He couldn’t kill him even though he desperately wanted to and should.

He couldn’t be the only Hale, not him. He was the reason his uncle was like this to begin with. Derek couldn’t stand the idea of being alive when they were all dead. Not after what he’d done. Peter chuckled though it was still more of a gurgle, “I am going to get my revenge Derek and you _are_ going to help me, no matter how it happens. I will make sure of it.”

Derek didn’t look at his uncle, heard him leave the area but he couldn’t move, he was a wolf and he suddenly he was just as trapped in this form as he had once been in his human skin, the shame bearing down on him with incredible pressure. Stuck. Trapped much like he’d been as a human for months after the fire, he couldn’t even achieve a beta shift let alone become the wolf. He stuck his nose in the area and took a deep breath as he stood up and wandered back to his pile of clothes and started sniffing around. Even now he could smell Stiles on the ground, the jeep and everything about him was all over this place.

His ear twitched as someone ran up, Derek turned and crouched, ready to pounce when he saw Scott standing there shifted into his beta form and staring in shock at the wolf in front of him. “Derek?” he lisped.

The sound of his name, added to the confusion on that face was enough to bring Derek back in a lurch. Just as swiftly as he’d become the wolf, he was human and naked sitting on the ground feeling the cold as it seeped into his skin. He shook his head as Scott ran up to him exclaiming as he turned back too. “I heard your howl and I knew it was different but I couldn’t tell why. Now I know. Can we all do that? How did you even do that?” Scott asked the last excitedly as he grabbed Derek’s clothes and started shoving them at the older man.

Derek panted from the exertion it took to shift so quickly back and forth, “Maybe you should concern yourself with controlling your beta form before you try going all the way,” he grumbled haughtily. A smoke screen meant to protect Derek from Scott knowing what had just happened, he would of course smell Peter and the blood but he didn’t need to know that Derek could have saved them all a lot of heart ache if he’d just can kill the alpha.

Scott snorted, “Cover your junk man. I don’t want to see that! Stiles wasn’t at the Argent house though neither was Kate. Allison still won’t talk to me,” The last statement was so pathetic sounding that Derek figured he should just give the kid a break. It had only been a day since his girlfriend had found out about him, been bitten and now she’s dealing with all this other family shit on top of it. Derek didn’t know what that was like since he’d been alone for so long but he could at least be a little nicer, this was Stiles’s best friend. He shimmied quickly into his underwear and jeans, adjusting as he put his wrecked shirt and jacket back on.

“We need to keep moving, Peter knows that we don’t know where Stiles is, I think he does anyway. I don’t know what he’s going to do but I think he’s going after him too. We need to get a hold of Deaton as see what he came up with for the others then keep searching.”

Scott frowned, “You think Peter’s going to try to get to him sooner?”

“Yes,” Derek snarled, angry just thinking about it, “Stiles is the key to the key players right now, made more obvious by the fact that Kate took him. I care about him a lot, you are his best friend. Even the others listen to him. If Peter gets him, he has the Sheriff in his pocket as well. If he turns him then who’s to say we all won’t just crumble. Stiles doesn’t want to be a werewolf but can you imagine him as one. He’s freakishly like Peter used to be.”

Scott shrugged, looking sullen about who knew what and Derek didn’t have time to find out right now. “You should really change into something that hasn’t been ripped apart before we hit civilization,” the teenager finally said.

Derek shrugged, he didn’t have clothes to grab. He didn’t have much of anything and most of it was back at the warehouse. He wasn’t walking back that way, he would not walk into the warehouse until her stench had dissipated a little more, otherwise anything he had in his stomach was going to be all over the ground. He had money, there was an outlet mall nearby, he could go and pick up some boring black t-shirts as soon as they had a plan. He wasn’t concerned about his wardrobe, even less concerned with what other people might think.

“How’d you do it?” Scott whispered after another couple of minutes of silence.

“Shift into my wolf form?” Derek asked because he didn’t know what to say yet.

“Yeah dummy, that!” Scott said, rolling his eyes hard enough his head did it too.

“I once told you that anger was my anchor,” Derek started and Scott nodded, saying nothing. “Well it hadn’t always been my anchor, pack and family had always kept me relatively in control, at peace with my wolf. About a year before the fire something happened and I lost that peace, it was suddenly about controlling the wolf because I couldn’t trust that instinct of mine anymore. I lost the full shift and then after the fire, I couldn’t shift at all. Laura had to work with me every day, getting back the ability to shift to my beta form but from that point on rage and anger were the only anchors I’d been able to use.”

“But it’s not now?” Scott asked.

Derek shook his head but didn’t say anything for a few minutes. The teenager just kept walking and waited. He’d never noticed before but Scott had the patience that Stiles never had, the teen wolf would make an excellent werewolf with training and guidance. Scott had said it before, if they were going to trust each other a little bit then they were both going to have to give. “Yours is love, right? For Allison?”

Scott shrugged but he smiled, “Yeah.”

“How are you feeling now? We are getting closer to the full moon and you don’t have her anymore.”

“Maybe it won’t be a problem,” Scott mumbled, “She didn’t really break up with me. She’s just figuring this thing out with being a werewolf and her family and everything. Never officially broke up with me.”

“Okay, so you’re good?” Derek asked to clarify, just because she never said the words didn’t mean that it wasn’t going to cause problems.

He shrugged again and Derek continued, “You need to have something else to anchor you. Mine was so easy because anger for me was my salvation, the thing that could keep me alive from here on out. Love for one person can be a difficult thing, its powerful but it can also be affected easily especially when its new.”

“Are you going to get to the point any time soon? I asked you about _your_ anchor!”

Derek took a deep breath and thought of that moment when he just let go and accepted the ripple of change to slide over him and wondered if he was about to get hit, “I had to let go of anger to turn, I found a new anchor, maybe even two more though I will have to put it into practice. It’s the possibility of having a pack again, you and the others—that was in my heart and head, demanding that I just let go and accept what was right in front of me.”

“But you’re stalling, there’s something in your scent and your heartbeat, there’s something else. I don’t know much about anything but I do know that.”

“Who was the first person to demand that I stay and make something more of my existence? Who found a way for me to stay and who stood beside me when he shouldn’t have, when it meant he would have to fight with his best friend? Who demanded that I take time and take care of myself and you, didn’t matter what happened to him? You already know this Scott, I am just asking you to reign in the wolf, the feeling of jealousy or fear or whatever with me. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Scott snorted at Derek’s boast that he would only get hurt in a fight against the born werewolf but sobered immediately, “It’s Stiles. Your anchor.”

It wasn’t a question but Derek swallowed the desperate wet thing in the back of his throat, maybe it was terror and a desperate kernel of hope and whispered, “Yes” as he kept walking.

Scott reached out and turned Derek around to face him, “What does this mean?” he demanded.

“It means that the thought of him, needing to protect him and care for him was enough to overpower the anger. It freed me enough to turn me into the wolf, which is the strongest form we have access to.”

“Do you love him?” Scott screeched, making them both wince.

“That’s a complicated question that I don’t have an answer to, at least anything I understood. It’s also an answer he deserves to hear before anyone else, including his best friend. I can only say that what I said earlier—Scott I can’t make that promise and I’m sorry that I tried. You and the others need someone who knows about being a werewolf and I won’t leave Beacon Hills unless he sends me away. I don’t care what that means for me. That’s what it means.”

Scott scuffed the tip of his shoe across the ground angrily making a divot because he wasn’t controlling his anger. Derek couldn’t help the empathy flowing through him for the teenager, this was all still so new for Scott and now his best friend had been kidnapped and his girlfriend knew and his least favorite person would be a pack-mate.

Because they apparently lived in a dramatic television show, Derek thought with a roll of his eyes. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’d lived in this world long enough to know sometimes certain people get the shit luck and he was one of them, he wouldn’t even believe this was happening. But it was.

So he understood better than anyone that would have a difficult time with what happened here in Beacon Hills and Derek knew that all his feelings about these people and caring for them was running him through a grinder leaving him in pieces.

“You will never be my alpha!” the teenager finally growled out, his shift starting swiftly. “You can’t turn Stiles against me!”

Derek took another deep breath through his nose, searching Scott’s scent and finding a confusing mish-mash of feelings. The fear and anger were the most astringent, there was shame and resentment, both subtle chemosignals that Derek had learned only because of his personal trauma over the years. “I don’t want to turn him against you, I just want to stay close and be helpful because he believed I could be.”

“And do _you_ believe you can do anything for him besides get him killed?” Scott snapped, his teeth clicking in anger, teeth elongating even as he visibly tried to control it.

“Do you?” Derek returned just as quickly and he wondered how he and Scott were ever going to get along without Stiles around. The simple answer might be that they wouldn’t—get along without Stiles to help calm them. Scott had too much trouble with authority and Derek was just to fractured to deal with his animosity with anything other than anger and snapping teeth.

“No!” Scott’s voice cracked at that, and Derek wished he felt that he could touch and comfort the teenager but he wasn’t allowed. Scott continued to rant, “I hate this! Why did he have to drag me into the woods? Why did he have to go find that dead body? This is all his fault!”

Derek’s eyes widened, he knew that Stiles carried some shame and guilt over that night because he rambled about everything under the sun when they were working on the warehouse but he hadn’t realized that Scott actually blamed him. And neither did Scott, if his shocked face was anything to go by.

“Do you really believe that?” Derek asked, trying to contain the wolf that wanted to lash out against the anger in Scott, especially because that anger was overlaid with fear for Stiles. Derek rolled his shoulders, attempting to resettle himself. This was stupid and a waste of time but Derek felt like he couldn’t walk away from Scott right now. He needed something, maybe it was something that Derek would never be able to give but he could try. They _had_ to be able to work together, Peter was on the prowl and Stiles was still missing.

“Yes!”

“What about the other night? What about the times that you almost killed him and he refused to leave you? Even after his father got hurt, he was mad at you but he didn’t abandon you.”

“He abandoned me that night and I got bit because of it!” Scott snarled, “He should have been the one, he loves all this so freaking much and I hate it!”

Derek rolled his eyes, it amazed him that Scott really didn’t know what this was doing to Stiles. Had the spastic teen really _not_ told his best friend how he felt? Then again when in the past couple of months had this _not_ been about the shit show that was Scott’s life. Stiles was malleable, he was changeable depending on the circumstances and he didn’t whatever was best for everyone, Scott had seemed to take a slightly more selfish route with the werewolf-hood which was inevitably why Stiles didn’t want to be a werewolf: because he didn’t recognize his best friend anymore.

Derek reached out and grabbed a handful of Scott’s shirt and jerked him in close and despite the immediately fight back, Derek easily contained the teenager, “You are not a baby Scott! Take some responsibility for your life and your decisions. You saw a pretty girl and you used your wolf abilities to get a date, then you kept after her despite the fact that her father would love to _kill you_ just for existing, the same hunter family that destroyed my family without compunction. Not to mention the lacrosse when you knew that it would cause problems, being popular was more important than protecting others from your irrational anger and the shift, I am not saying that Stiles doesn’t have something to apologize for but you don’t get to be blameless Scott. You want to be a grown up, making decisions that effects other people then grow up! Take responsibility and stop letting Stiles do it for you! You used the Bite for your own selfish means and that was on you!”

Derek released the angry teen and started jogging towards town, they didn’t have time for this and finding Stiles had to be more important than this worthless blame game/pissing contest. He could hear when Scott settled in to jog next to him though he said nothing else. He’d already spoken so much in the past month or so and he was tired of it. He didn’t want to do anything besides make sure that Stiles was safe and deal with Peter. Or maybe let someone else deal with Peter, since he apparently couldn’t do it.

He didn’t think he could fight Kate either but this was about Stiles, if he could complete the shift to fight his uncle for his pack-mate then he could fight his way through the shit in his head to go up against her too. He hit the edge of town and shifted direction for the fastest route to the station and Stiles’s father, he needed to update the Sheriff, let him know what they found and what their next step was.

“Are we going to the Sheriff?” Scott asked after several minutes of silence, just as they ran into the lot of the station and Derek ignored the rampant desire to roll his eyes right out of his head at the question. Instead he nodded and headed inside. The woman at the front desk looked him up and down, noticing his quickened breath and Scott following close behind.

“Can I help you?” she asked cautiously.

“Derek Hale and Scott McCall, may we speak to the Sheriff?”

She frowned and Scott popped up closer, shoving Derek to the side, “Its about his son!”

She nodded finally, comforted by Scott’s innocent naiveté and his familiar face which wasn’t attached to a murder investigation. Derek knew that it was ridiculous to be hurt by the collective opinion of these people but he did, this town was the only standing memory of his family anymore and they fact that what happened with Laura and by extension, Derek, might always tarnish the memory of the rest of his family. The deputy led them back to the Sheriff’s office and announced them. Stilinski rose quickly from his desk but saw the lack of Stiles, his shoulders drooping as he rushed them inside and closed the door.

“No luck?” he asked but he already knew. This would have been Stiles’s first stop, knowing that his father was worried.

“Not so far but we wanted to keep you informed,” Derek said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, glad we thought to zip it up to cover the shredded shirt underneath.

“We were heading to the Hale house next then we don’t know where to look,” Scott said quickly.

“I might be able to use my other abilities to find him, we have heightened senses in our other form,” Derek whispered, not realizing he was planning to talk until it was happening. The Sheriff already admitted to knowing about them though he still seemed reticent to depend on them for his son’s rescue.

Scott snorted, “Then why couldn’t you find him earlier!”

“When they got into the vehicle, it took away the trail. There was nothing to follow Scott.”

Scott shrugged but he looked down, chagrined. Derek shook his head and looked at the Sheriff who was staring at them, reading the animosity pinging between them, “How can I trust you both to take care of my son when you are too busy trying to be the boss? Trying to be right?”

 _Fair point_ , Derek thought with a wince.

“Derek, give me your phone number so I can keep an eye on you from here. Are you going to keep it with you in case of anything?”

Derek nodded, thankful that it had been in his jacket pocket when he shifted, he wouldn’t pull off another full shift any time soon, he didn’t seem to have the shape down in any kind of useful way but the beta shift would be enough. He would have his phone and vocal chords to speak into it in case the Sheriff found anything, not to mention they needed to call Deaton about the others, full moon was coming whether they had time for it or not.

“Scott, you should call your mother and get an update on whoever is still at the hospital then call Deaton and see if he found anything.”

Scott nodded though he was still sullen. He walked out of the office after another quick look between the Sheriff and Derek then he was gone. Derek turned back to the Sheriff, “You don’t trust me?”

“Not with my son,” the sheriff gritted out.

“Because of who I am or because of what I am?” Derek wondered even as he tapped his number and contact into the Sheriff’s phone. He immediately called his own number and felt when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

He handed back the phone after hanging up on himself as Stilinski answered, “I don’t trust your family and what you are because your people have this tendency from what I experienced to think you are above the law and as someone who believed in justice and the law, I find that to be justified mistrust and dislike.”

Derek’s heart thudded in his chest uncomfortably, “I don’t have anything to say to that, I don’t know what you experienced with my mother or my family. I cannot deny a desperate desire to fight it but I am just going to have to show you that you can trust me.”

“I would believe you more if you had just reported when you found your sister’s body,” Sheriff Stilinski snapped and Derek’s eyes flared blue for a second but he’d looked down and away quickly enough.

“I don’t have the time or the desire to explain my reasoning but I get it.”

“Then get out of here and find my son, we’ll see what happens after that.”

Derek nodded, one single tilt of his head before he took off back the way they’d come, Scott stayed behind for a second and he was just reassuring the Sheriff that they were going to find Stiles. Scott and Stiles were like brothers, of course Scott would have a connection with the sheriff that Derek wouldn’t have, maybe never would despite his desire to stick around and create something. He had no idea what the Sheriff had experienced, to make him believe that they felt they were above to law. He would have to think about it some other time that he wasn’t trying to get the man’s son back alive.

Scott rejoined him a minute later and asked, “Hale house?”

Derek nodded and they took off towards the Preserve, hoping to find something. Anything that would get Stiles away from Kate.

 

When his eyes drifted open Stiles was just an open sore, he tried to lift his head from his chest but it was to heavy. He didn’t know where he was or who had him so he tried to stay quiet for as long as possible while he took stock of his body. His wrists were chained to the slatted bars behind his back, the links were digging into the delicate skin and bones of his wrists. There was also chains around his chest and his ankles. He feet were thankfully touching the floor otherwise he would have been suffocating as well as feeling the constant strum of pain. For the first time in his entire life, Stiles was annoyed that he knew that. He spent most of his free time, sleepless nights and weekends not spent with his dad or Scott looking up things, and now it was telling him all sorts of things he didn’t want to know.

He was shirtless, Stiles noticed because the chains were dragging along his skin, creating an uncomfortable zing across his skin and that was the moment his head snapped up because he knew why he felt like he was about to shudder out of his skin.

“I’m not a werewolf,” he shuddered out, barely more than a whisper. He blinked and tried to focus but the subtle electrical current that was skimming along his skin was enough to tire him completely.

She laughed, it was supposed to be seductive maybe but it just ended up sounding crazy.

“Kate Argent, it’s nice to know you’re done pretending to be sane. You kidnapped the sheriff’s son, you think they aren’t going to find you?”

The zing rose to painful for a second, causing Stiles’s back to bow and a groaning scream attempted to find its way out of his mouth but it never made it past his throat, remaining a gurgling moan. The sound vibrated deep in his throat and chest even as his stitches stretched in the movement. Then it resettled to that uncomfortable and manageable level and he was left pressed against the bars and heaving as best he could with the chains gripping his upper chest.

“If you had been a werewolf,” Kate purred as she came closer, reaching her hand out to him. Stiles bucked, trying to make it perfectly clear that he wasn’t going to be okay with her grubby perverted hands on his body. Then, just as her hand pressed into his stomach the buzzing in his veins went away and he sighed in relief, groaning as she chuckled, “You would already be dead. I know you are human now, I had enough time with your body to realize that you weren’t healing like a wolf. No, I have you for a whole other host of reasons.”

“Let me guess,” Stiles gritted out, trying to escape her touch even as it started to waver lower on his body. “They all lead back to Derek Hale!”

“And the alpha and any other supernatural creature I get to enjoy killing,” Kate responded.

“You are more likely going to be put in jail for this! You’re never going to touch the alpha or Derek!”

“I have noticed him closing in ranks around you,” Kate whispered as she moved in close to his body and between the lack of electrical buzzing and her warmth, Stiles could feel a disgusting pleasure seeping into him. He shook his head, it flopped from side to side like he didn’t have any motor control anymore.

“Stiles Stilinski, the boy who was finally found after the full moon mauled and half eaten. Can you imagine what will happen to your father? To the others who love you? Maybe even Derek?”

Stiles snorted, “Derek doesn’t care about me. He’s probably not even looking for me right now,” It was a lie and Stiles sighed when her head ticked to the side that she felt it in his heartbeat. Of course, Kate Argent, crazy bitch werewolf hunter would at least know the human ways to see if someone was lying and her hand was pressed over his pulse point in his throat.

She leaned in, “I know they both want you for something, I want you too baby,” she whispered and gripped the back of his neck and painfully arranging his face to look at her. Stiles worked up the spit in his mouth, wishing it didn’t feel so much like a desert so he could spit in her face and at least distract her enough to get her hands off of him.

“What is it about you that has him hooked anyway? Skinny, spastic Stiles trying to be Batman when you’ll never be strong enough to do anything besides cause more harm to him. He does seem to have a type, except me of course.”

Stiles jerked against the chains, “Don’t talk about him like you know him!” he snapped.

Kate chortled as she pulled away from him, the second her hands were no longer in contact with his skin, she turned the low buzz of electricity back on and Stiles groaned. “Oh baby, I do know him. I fucked him and I have every intention of doing so again, just this time not with my body first. I was sentimental when I left him alive, I won’t do it again.”

She left him there, probably to go back out and play the dutiful aunt to her new werewolf niece or hunter to her brother. Stiles left there, thinking about anything and everything but the pain zipping through his veins. He wondered how long it had been since he’d had Adderall, he wondered about Scott and Derek. Were they fighting? Were they helping his dad look? How was his dad handling all this? It was too close still to the anniversary, only about a month and a half ago and they had just started talking again, it wasn’t fair that this was the result and all for the insanity of the Argent hunters.

His brain skipped from topic to topic, mentally writing and rewriting papers that he knew were coming due, he wrote a couple of chapters of a werewolf manual that he would undoubtedly write someday just for the sake of keeping all the information in the correct order. He thought about all he’d learned about Scott and Derek already and hoped he would survive this long enough to find out the rest, even if that took the rest of his life.

He stayed there for what felt like hours, Kate would come back and only touch him if the electricity was off while she told him what she was planning to do to the people he cared about. He wondered for a while if she was just worried about being shocked though why did she keep coming back? He didn’t understand why she was touching him at all besides a bizarre need to just be a skeevy bitch until about the sixth or seventh time he heard her walking into the space where he was trapped and he whined in desire, a bid for a break from the current that she had been raising a little at a time until it was almost unbearable, he could see the red blistering marks around his chest and knew they were everywhere the chains were.

He thought during that last moment when she smiled at him, all teeth and fuck that was terrifying! He realized that’s what she was doing, he would rather she be touching him even though he hated it then keep struggling through the subtle maintenance of the electrical current that was keeping him hot and jittery, red and in pain. He didn’t want to think about what the electrical current might be doing to his heart or his organs.

“Yes,” she whispered even as she slipped her hand down the front of his pants and squeezed his flaccid penis and thank god it didn’t respond even though he knew he should pull away. He didn’t even care anymore, as long as the current was off. Tears rolled down his face and he wondered if being a human was the reason he’d barely lasted a day before giving her exactly what she wanted. In the face of torture, he was weak willed enough to be okay with some sexual destruction of intimacy by this woman. A woman that he knew had done everything she could to destroy a young boy, someone that Stiles cared for. He was pathetic, she made him weak and now he didn’t even care as long as she didn’t turn that machine back on. She leaned forward and licked up the side of his neck and whispered in his ear, “And now the fun really begins, my sweet boy.”

Stiles hoped that Derek and Scott were okay, that Allison and Jackson had a safe place but he also hoped they didn’t find him like this, begging her to keep touching him just for a break in the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kate uses torture to convince Stiles that her sexual perversion would be preferably to the torture. She has used sex to get what she wants from people in the show and I just used that but don't read it if its going to be a trigger for you. Take care of you please.


	12. Locked Up Tight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Derek are closing in on Stiles's scent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much shorter than every single chapter in this story but I hope you like it. 
> 
> More trigger warnings for Kate being a psycho, take care of you!! Always!!

Derek and Scott were about halfway to the Preserve when Scott’s phone jangled, causing them both to wince, “Turn the ringer off, you idiot!” Derek snapped because seriously they were trying to be stealthy but also when they were attuned to their surroundings, the obnoxious ringtones on cell phones can give even the most well-adjusted werewolves a headache.

Scott grunted, scrubbing at his earlobe like that was going to alleviate the pain somehow as he answered. Derek could hear Lydia’s frantic voice on the other end, “Scott we need help here, Jackson is starting to lose it. He is still randomly bleeding black shit but his eyes are changing and there are claws and he can’t stop it. Allison called me earlier, she is locked in her room because she is starting to change, she’s trying to keep her parents out. We need someplace safe to go! And I mean now! This is your fault and you said that you would keep us safe!”

“Why didn’t she call me?” Scott snarled.

“Uh maybe because you were a lying jerk that got her caught up in this!”

Derek snorted, he shouldn’t but he was starting to like Lydia. She didn’t care about hurting people’s feelings, underneath that pretty face was a fiery spunky girl, not unlike Stiles he thought. Stiles was just not hiding behind some dumb façade. Nerdy façade maybe but not a dumb one. Sighing he refocused enough to really grasp that the full moon was coming, they were going to turn and Scott was barely in control. They needed someplace to go and Derek needed to regroup.

He missed Stiles.

Derek realized this deep in his gut and it was urgent and overwhelming in its unexpected intensity, just as painful as missing some of his family members sometimes was. It was also laced with a generous helping of guilt because Stiles was taken from him, right out from under his nose. Albeit, someone had known enough about werewolves to knock him out but he should have known that Kate and Peter both were unhinged enough to try something this stupid and crazy.

Right now, he was realizing that for some reason Stiles was the one they listened to, who knew why—maybe because he was the one who knew the most about all this besides Derek obviously. Maybe for Allison and Jackson, it was because he wasn’t Scott but maybe it was what they all saw on the field. At the school that night on the lacrosse field, Derek watched an alpha personality, werewolf status notwithstanding, take control of his pack and calmed them immediately. And he protected people he barely liked when faced against his best friend and his own mortality.

He would have been good at being a werewolf.

“Dude, now is not the time to be spacing out!” Scott screeched and Derek snapped back. They needed something and Derek was the closest thing they had to a leader so he was going to do just that: lead no matter how unprepared he was or how much it felt like a betrayal to his sister and his mother. Even if it was for Stiles, so the teenager came back to all of his friends still alive and well.

“I am calling Deaton, tell her to hold on. Is Jackson still at the hospital?”

Scott relayed the question then nodded, “My mom is with them but they are only going to be able to keep him hidden for so long. There is nothing ‘medically’ wrong with him. Trying to keep the black blood to themselves.”

Derek took out his phone and searched for the ‘In case of Emergency’ contact again and pressed the little phone, he should remember to change it to the man’s name since he knew who it was. Derek had no doubt that Deaton must have been their Emissary but he wouldn’t ask, it wasn’t allowed. It rang twice before Deaton picked up with his calm greeting. Derek responded quickly, “Do you have something that can help? We just need something long enough to get Stiles back and give us a little more time before they turn. They are already starting to struggle for control.”

“This close to the full moon, that’s not surprising,” Deaton started then quickly continued thankfully since Scott looked like he was going to have an apoplexy. “It’s not comfortable and there might be consequences that none of us are prepared for but I have an option for you.”

“I understand, at the moment we are just trying to keep Allison alive and Jackson out of the hands of the hunters while we get Stiles out of their grip.”

“I am going to text you the address, including a way in though it’s not going to be too difficult for you guys. Try not to make it too obvious. Further instructions will be included.”

Derek hung up and found the first text with an address, he handed it over to Scott and they put the information into his phone and started running the way it wanted them to. Scott sent a text to Lydia just as they were skidding to a stop in front of a closed down building and Derek tilted his head in confusion.

“A bank?” Scott demanded, “What the hell is Deaton thinking? You’re seeing this right? This is a closed down decrepit bank!”

Derek looked down at his phone which showed another message from Deaton, “He says there is something about the vault, we won’t be able to use mountain ash but we can lock them in there. It’s supposed to slow the process or stop the moon’s effect on them.”

“Why didn’t we know about this? Why haven’t we been living here every full moon?”

“First of all, I had no idea this was something and because of those lovely little consequences Deaton was talking about. Stopping the effect of the moon does not teach you how to live with the change and control the shift. It only delays the inevitable and probably makes the change even more intense and vicious. You can’t just pretend this didn’t happen Scott and neither can Jackson and Allison. This is an option because we need to be thinking about getting Stiles back. That’s the first priority, we need to protect those who cannot protect themselves in the Pack. Get Lydia, Jackson and Allison here, no matter what it takes.”

Scott nodded and started tapping at his phone before Derek walked around to the back of the building and found a bent part of the fence that they could get through, further in he found a door that was creaked and bent open at an awkward angle which meant that other werewolves or supernatural creatures had used it as well. Scott rushed up behind him and Derek held his hand up to make him pause.

“We don’t know what’s in there, take it slow and use your senses.”

Scott nodded, his eyes flashing gold, unable to access his senses without a partial shift. The eyes could be explained away if need be, the fangs and claws would be harder in case someone walked in on them though he didn’t think anyone was going to come here. Derek was used to smelling and seeing more than he ever wanted to see and smell. He wondered how overwhelming and awful that had been for Scott when it wasn’t about getting the girl or lacrosse. Did Scott hate the senses he now had because he never had a choice, never had a warning or anyone to help besides Derek who was admittedly not very good at this.

“Scott?” he whispered as they found their way through the hallway and towards the bank vault where the other new pack members would be spending some time in, thanks to the directions and a quick picture of the floor plan of the bank that Deaton sent to him as well.

“Huh?” the teen responded and Derek thought about what he was about to say and knew it needed to be said. What the hell did Stiles do to him? All of a sudden he was using his words more than he had in the past five years. It reminded him a little bit like he was before the fire and everything. It was a part of him that Derek didn’t even know still existed. A part of him that he hoped had died in the fire because it would leave him open to more hurt, more death and destruction.

“I am sorry that you weren’t given a choice, that he attacked you and turned you without consent or telling you what this was. I have only ever known life as a werewolf so it’s hard for me to accept that it wouldn’t be a gift for someone. I don’t think I ever said that and I should of. There is no excuse for that but I’ve never been the person to help a nascent wolf so I’m willing to help you if you let me, Jackson and Allison too.”

Scott stood there staring at him, mouth open in shock then he shook his head and grumbled as he kept on walking, “What is with you? You were so growly and non-communicative before! I much prefer that guy because he was easy to dislike.”

Derek shook his head, trying to dispel the confusion that little speech caused, “You’re mad at me because I am not easy to hate? Am I getting that right?”

“Yes!” Scott snapped, throwing his hands in the air before bursting into laughter, sounding insane in the echoing halls of the decrepit bank.

Derek shrugged and looked into the bank, they would be able to close the door and spin the lock, it was still functioning and it wasn’t electrical. He would be able to hear the tumblers inside and get the door open again. At the moment, it would probably be best if he left Scott here as well because the two-and-a-half-month old werewolf wasn’t that great at control. He didn’t think that was going to happen though, not with Stiles missing.

“This is going to work just fine, they aren’t going to be pleased with the less than stellar conditions,” Scott started as he looked into the vault as well. The space was longer than it was wide and rounded at the back. There were crates stacked up at the back of the vault, and not much else. 

“Have them bring things to sit on, just get them here,” Derek replied and Scott started tapping at his phone again. Derek left the area, taking in deep breaths and listening with all of his supernatural senses to make sure that they would be safe here. There was the easily distinguishable sounds of scurrying mice and rats, the flapping of a couple wings which could be birds or bats, Derek figured but he didn’t smell anything or hear anything to make him think there was going to be a problem here.

“Derek, they’re on the way. Lydia had to spring Allison from her house and she didn’t tell her I would be here. I am going to make sure they get in here but we should get going soon towards the Hale house.”

Derek nodded and he watched as Scott loped off towards the door where they got inside to meet the others and Derek walked back to the vault, closed and spun the tumbler. Then he walked over to the combination spinner and practiced listening for the clicking into place of the tumblers and easily opened it again. He’d never been like his Uncle who’d once ran with some unsavory people and he’d always told Derek that werewolves could easily open these kinds of safes or vaults but it was good to know that it was helpful now in a slightly less illegal way though squatting was still a problem but one that werewolves were a little laxer about honestly. When they needed to go to ground, they found a way and most of the time it wasn’t the Ritz Carlton or the Hilton, it was empty broken down buildings were they would be inconspicuous.

Then he could hear the very heated shout of “What is _he_ doing here?”

 _‘Allison’,_ Derek thought with a groaning sigh before he headed back out front where Allison was standing just inside the door with her arms wrapped around her body and she was glaring at Scott who was looking like a kicked puppy. Jackson was watching with unfettered annoyance and disdain while Lydia tapped her foot incessantly while watching the drama show in front of her. She was an interesting human, someone who really should be freaking out a lot more than she was, especially with her boyfriend and her best friend being werewolves but he could also hear her erratic pulse so she a good actress, not a completely calm person in the face of the supernatural.

“He’s here because he’s done this at least once, and whether you like it or not, you are all bound to one another unless you chose to be omega, a lone wolf.” Derek started as he gestured past him towards the vault. It was then that he noticed the neatly piled bedding next to Lydia and Allison, they brought enough to be mostly comfortable though it wasn’t what any of them were used to.

“Why are we here?” Jackson demanded.

“So you won’t turn during the full moon, the vault will block out the moon’s pull and we will have some extra time to work out where Stiles is. I need to get him away from the hunters and then we can start training, we have enough betas now that we could fight the alpha and keep him from hurting anyone else.”

“This is all too much!” Allison snapped.

Derek flashed his eyes at her, letting his partial shift begin slowly while they all watched and there was a second before Scott let it happen as well, the moon was strong even now and the wolf in him rejoiced at the chance to come out even a little. Derek watched as all three of the other students stared at him, stared at Scott for another couple of minutes before he turned back again. “This is going to happen to you, we already know that. At this point you weren’t given a choice and sadly the only one you have now is learn to control it and hide it from the rest of the world including your family or you die.”

“Are you going to kill us?” Jackson said with a snort though his scent flared with fear for a second before something squashed it down, shame maybe.

“Don’t be stupid Jackson!” Lydia said suddenly then she turned to Derek and he saw the brilliant intelligence in her and thought for a second that maybe she was worth all the years Stiles had spent loving her. “They took Stiles because he’s been helping you, right?”

Derek nodded, gulping spastically.

“They won’t care that he’s human?” she continued.

“Not this hunter and she’s the only one who would take him without proof,” Derek croaked. He couldn’t help thinking of all the times she’d chipped away at him, destroying every little scrap of joy over the course of their acquaintance because he didn’t call it a relationship anymore and they needed to get this shit figured out because she had Stiles and he needed to get the teenager back before she destroyed him too. Derek couldn’t imagine this town or his pack without Stiles, this bright and shining spark, always jabbering away and letting his sarcasm hide his clever intellect, the same way Lydia had used her vapid hard exterior to hide hers. He watched her consider the options and the information she had in a lightning fast moment before she turned resolutely to her friends.

“Allison, Jackson; you need to do what Derek is telling you because Scott’s best friend, someone we have known since kindergarten is out there in danger and Stiles seems to be the only one who knows what the hell is going on. I remember the Sheriff when his wife died, we all do! He can’t lose Stiles too and honestly its nice knowing someone else who can possibly out think me every once in a while,” she said the last with a sniff.

Derek didn’t know what to think about _any_ of that but it was enough to get her reluctant bitten best friend and boyfriend into the vault. Lydia nodded to Scott and Derek before she stepped inside as well but Derek pulled her back saying, “No.”

“You can’t stop me,” she snapped, trying to pull her arm away but Derek jerked her hard away from the vault while Scott closed the door, watching as Allison and Jackson’s faces disappeared. Lydia jerked again and Derek released her as soon as Scott spun the lock and there was nothing she could do.

“You can stay here, you can talk to them or not but it’s worse at night, when they sleep. Just stay here but I can’t let them hurt someone because they don’t have any idea how to control the wolf. We don’t have any sort of proof that this thing is going to work but it’s all we have right now.”

“Fine, just go!” Lydia barked out, waving him away imperiously and Derek rolled his eyes as he walked away from her. Scott followed him and they headed back out towards the Hale house again. Derek ran for a few minutes before he stopped again thinking about what they just did.

“We should tell the Sheriff about where Jackson, Allison and Lydia are. He could help us with an alibi, Mrs. McCall too.”

“I’m gonna call my mom, can you call Stiles’s dad?” Scott asked even as he started his phone call. Derek nodded, not that the teenager was listening as his mother answered with an immediate, “Did you find him yet?”

“No Mom, we’re still looking but I need to tell you about the others. We might need your help especially with Jackson’s parents in case they call party foul.”

Derek turned and walked several paces away from Scott and dialed the number he’d been given for the Sheriff and the man answered with the same as Melissa McCall, “Stiles?”

“Nothing yet Sheriff, I just wanted to let you know that there is a bank, shut down. That’s where Jackson, Allison and Lydia are at the moment, in case we need help or someone to cover for them.”

The Sheriff scoffed, “This is exactly what I don’t like about the supernatural, Hale, not to mention your family! You think I should cover for you because of something,” there was a harsh slam in the background and Derek winced before the Sheriff continued, “The alpha did. He assaulted those children, they took my goddamned son and you want me to what? Lie for you? Again?”

Derek frowned, “I never asked you to lie for me.”

Stilinski sucked in a breath and the quiet sound of a slap came over the line like he hit himself in the forehead or covered his mouth for some reason. “Never mind.”

Derek started walking again as he spoke, “We are heading to the Hale house, the others are safe in the vault at the bank, if you see their parents or someone wants to go out there for some unknown reason, I need you to be the one to do it otherwise when they get out they are going to turn. It’s a full moon, they won’t be able to control it until they have time to practice.”

“Understood.”

Derek paused, knowing that he shouldn’t do this now but it was impossible not to want to know, “You saw me before I left her, didn’t you? What you saw wasn’t just proof of supernatural or the aftermath? It was all so confusing back then, I couldn’t remember any of the details. Then my mother came and she talked to you. Did she ask you to lie to cover it up? That’s what this is about isn’t it?”

There was a long pause, so long that if Derek had been human he would have guessed he’d been hung up on but he could hear the Sheriff’s breathing. He was breathing long deep breaths through his nose then he spoke, “She did,” the word was miserably whispered across the distance, only brought together by the technology of phones but he knew. Derek hadn’t remembered much about the night he’d been at the base of the Nemeton with Paige, he didn’t remember anyone finding him before his mother brought him out of it. The story about the deputy had always been vague when his mom talked about it, which was all of two times. But Stiles’s dad knew what Derek had done to her. He never wanted to hurt her but it didn’t seem to matter. _The Sheriff knew!_ And it was the worst thing in Derek’s opinion for the man to know about the supernatural creature that cared for his son. His human spastic, clever and stupidly brave son.

“You saw me with Paige,” it wasn’t a question.

“It wasn’t just that but yes,” the Sheriff stated.

“You were the one who kept Ennis away from his beta. So you found out everything that was happening here with the gathered alphas and everything? You found out about Duke and my mother and the hunters? All of it? Then?” Derek hadn’t been thinking clearly especially in light of what happened with his girlfriend but he wasn’t stupid. He’d known about Duke, Ennis and Kali coming here to ask Talia for help against the Hunters. He knew about the showdown where Duke was blinded. Everyone respected the Hale family and Talia Hale. They all wanted to be in her good graces. Sadly all that happened during their time in Beacon Hills was destroy countless innocent werewolves because of the Argent family. And if that was the introduction the sheriff had with the supernatural, it was no wonder he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

It was just too bad Derek didn’t know what Peter was capable of back then otherwise he never would have let the older werewolf convince Derek that trying to turn Paige was the thing to do especially without her say-so. This was a big reason why consent of the Bite was just as important to him as any other thing because the one time he’d taken the choice away from someone he cared about, she died.

“Yes,” the Sheriff responded and Derek knew that Scott was standing next to him wondering what the hell was happening. Derek leaned over, phone still pressed to the shell of his ear, the case groaning under the pressure he was exerting on it. He took a couple of deep breaths before he stood up straight and answered.

“Please let me explain? Let me find Stiles and bring him back, to show you I am more than those memories you have of me and with my family. It was the worst thing that happened to me before the fire and I hate myself for it. Stiles has heard so much of my story, please don’t tell him what you think happened; I will tell the both of you if you want but please let me explain before you turn me away from him. I know what you said in the hospital and you have every right to keep me away from him but please let me make sure that he’s safe?”

“Get him back to me and I will consider it but not until then. I wish he’d never gotten mixed up with your goddamned family!”

Derek snorted in self-derision as the Sheriff’s words tore at his already battered heart, “Me too.”

“So we can talk about this later. Stiles would never forgive me if you didn’t get to tell him and to be fair you are right; _you_ never asked me to lie about anything. You were just a kid.”

Then the Sheriff hung up and Derek worked to pull himself together. How is it possible that all of his secrets were coming to light with these people so quickly? No one knew what happened with Kate, besides Stiles but now the Sheriff knew about Paige and if he wanted a chance to be close to Stiles he would have to tell him everything, he would have to prove he could be near Stiles.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“It’s nothing you are going to care about, just another horrid piece of my past fell out in front of the Sheriff and it’s just none of your business.”

Scott groaned and they started running again and Derek hoped that they were on the right track otherwise he wouldn’t know where else to look.

 

Stiles jerked as the electrical current stopped again, just as Kate’s hands slid along his burning skin. She scraped her nails along the reddened skin under the chain, pressing harshly into the skin beneath his nipple and the battered teen groaned. It wasn’t of pleasure but from the blurry smile he could see on her face, she didn’t care.

“Do you know what I did to him, do you want to know what I would do with you if I had time?”

Stiles shook his head as it fell forward to rest on his chest, too weak from the constant pain and not being allowed to rest or recuperate. And she had the gall to keep on talking, “He thought I _loved_ him, can you believe that? I couldn’t ever love a monster but it was the easiest way to get to his family. They had a protection ward, something the voodoo witch doctor cooked up for them and it was him who got me in. Derek let me in to his room, I fucked his body then I killed his family. They deserved to die, he deserved to suffer and now he’s the last Hale standing, it will be a coup in the hunter world to take down the Beacon Hills’ Hale family. And you’re going to help me do it this time.” Kate leaned in close again and licked the burned skin and he moaned painfully.

“Stop it please? I don’t want this, please!” He paused then snarled, “I can’t wait for my dad or Derek to find me and kill you.”

“Sweet boy, they are still running around looking for you, I got a call about Scott going to Chris’s house, he’s so sweet on Allison isn’t he? She’s never going to speak to him now because of the school the other night. Are you going to tell me who the beta is? Is it Jackson or Scott?”

“Fuck you!” Stiles husked, barely strong enough to string the words together angrily.

Kate tutted, “Now Stiles you need to behave or I am going to turn the electricity back on. Do you want that?”

“No,” he cried out, the sting of tears in his eyes making him hate himself even more though he apparently was too dry to even cry at the moment.

“Are you sure because if we are just going to go back to the arguing then it’s coming back on. Is that what you want?”

He shook his head, hating himself because of it but he couldn’t stand the idea of being shocked again. His heart was still rabbiting beneath his skin and he didn’t know what would cause his heart to shut down but he didn’t really want to chance it. He wanted to keep on fighting but if he didn’t get a break from the electricity he wasn’t going to be alive long enough to fight later.

“Then just let this happen sweetie,” she murmured and he tried to struggle a little more to try to convince her or himself that this wasn’t over but she zapped him. Stiles sagged down and forward, not capable of anything anymore. She reached down and he just floated away from his body, desperate to not feel whatever was coming next.

He thought about Derek, when they were nothing more than wary allies/friendly enemies and talking about things that Derek hadn’t talked to anyone for years about except maybe Laura. He thought about Derek being strong enough to come back to the place where his family died, being courageous enough to stay for a couple of petty, selfish and stupid teenagers.

He thought about Derek showing Scott the werewolf ropes, watching them together in the train depot as Derek would show Scott how to fight, how to learn to control the shift. They had barely begun to get to know each other. He thought about the kiss for a second wishing he was back there in the weirdness because at least he was with someone who cared and wanted him safe.

Stiles vaguely felt when she released him from his chains and let him drop to the ground without helping or slowing his descent. The dirt beneath his cheek burned at his hypersensitive skin and Stiles tried to push over onto his back but his arms wouldn’t listen to him. His mind sent the message out but there was nothing to answer the call. _He still had arms and legs, right?_

Kate forcibly flipped him over, Stiles grunted in pain and she snickered, “My poor baby.”

He refused to make another sound, she was leaning over him and pressing something cold and sharp against his skin. The cool feeling making Stiles arch closer and there was a twitch then the flow of liquid welling up and out over his skin.

“I could make all sorts of designs on your skin but I don’t want to damage you quite yet and we still have to get you out into the forest where some ‘wild animals’ can maul you and I wouldn’t want anything I do here to leave too much of an impression. It doesn’t really matter though since they won’t think to look here. We have all the time in the world.”

“Stupid,” he muttered, coughing a little at the work it takes to expel the word from his mouth.

Something jabbed into his side harshly and his body jerked and twitched from the voltage zinging suddenly through his body, his back arching as she grabbed at his crotch cupping him intimately and he screamed, his voice breaking horribly. He wanted to keeping screaming, to cry rape or something but she just kept the sharp teeth of the taser tucked into his side until he fell limp and she continued her perverted ministrations. She cupped his soft penis, trying to force it into hardness and he turned his head away while she jerked his weak hospital pants down around his thighs and effectively trapping him even more, not that it mattered. Over a day of this treatment and he didn’t have any fight left in his body, the best he could hope for was to just disappear inside himself.

Instead of thinking about what she was doing to his battered body he thought about his first kiss again—with Derek and how fast it went and how much he wished he could do it again but he wouldn’t unless that was what Derek wanted. He thought about the fact that he and Scott were on the cusp of being actual friends with Jackson Whittmore and Lydia Martin, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from thinking about Derek in the hospital room, letting Stiles have a panic attack all over him. He couldn’t stop thinking about how much the surly werewolf already meant to him, not because he was amazingly hot though he was. Even before Stiles realized his leanings, he knew that Derek Hale was an attractive bastard but that’s not what pulled Stiles in. It had so little to do with that, it was almost an after thought.

Derek deserved nice things in life and the sourwolf was determined to never have them and Stiles figured that if some of his small and ordinary life was spent make sure the stupid growly werewolf got it anyway then he would have done something good, something meaningful. Derek stayed good, he didn’t turn into Peter despite the fact that he’d lost everyone too.

Now who knew if he would have a chance, maybe to Derek: Stiles would just be another good thing that was taken from him. Maybe this would be the thing that destroyed the werewolf because it happened so close to Laura and it was here in the place where he lost almost every person he’d ever loved. That thought was enough to jolt him with adrenaline, his hands lifting from his side feeling like lead but moving with purpose. He grabbed at the dirt underneath him on both sides while Kate was wrapped up in grabbing his dick roughly as if to punish it for not getting hard for her. He happened upon something rectangular and found the trigger, realizing after a couple of seconds that it was the taser. Stiles acted before she could figure out what he was doing, jerked it up and pressed it hard down into Kate’s neck using his energy to focus the pressure and hold it against her skin. He held it there for a long time while he forced his tired body into a sitting position and ignored his wounds and appearance in favor of watching her seize for a minute before she collapsed against his lap.

“Take…” he took a labored breath before he continued, “That…Bitch!”

“You really are something Stiles,” a voice called out from behind him and Stiles groaned.

“No, just no,” Stiles responded, the words no more than a breath.

Peter chuckled, “Is that anyway to speak to your rescuer?”

“If they were here,” Stiles paused and wished he had the strength to push Kate off of him as his other hand flopped back down to his side. “Then I would worry. You’re not here for me.”

Suddenly Kate’s body was rolled away from him and Peter lifted him from under his armpits, only to easily transfer him into the bridal carry and if it wasn’t for the weakness in his body and the utter relief when Peter pulled his pants back on, he would argue. Peter was dangerously unhinged, but maybe he would let Stiles heal for a minute before he did anything crazy.

“I can hear you thinking Stiles, how are you even thinking right now? Just rest Stiles.”

He was pretty sure that the black out that hit him a second later would not be considered resting.

 

*                      *                      *

 

“I can smell him!” Derek shouted across the distance to where Scott is searching another part of the Preserve and the Hale property, “We’re getting closer.”

He shifted into his beta form and took in the scent of his pack-mate and followed it to the source where an old grate was off kilter in front of a hole. He frowned then realized another of Peter’s secrets that he’d shared one day. There were tunnels under the Hale house and property. He dove through the door and grinned at the scent got stronger though he hated the fear that was all over it, the pain and terror an echo calling out into the deep earth of the system as he ran down the tunnel and stopped staring at the chains hanging from the bars that were imbedded into the ground and ceiling. He didn’t need to see Stiles to know what happened here but the only problem was.

Stiles wasn’t here. Derek took another deep breath, but Stiles’s scent was so strong he almost couldn’t scent anyone else. He noticed some pattern in the dirt and he crawled closer on his hands and knees just as Scott ran up behind him and the current of his movement swirled everything around and he found what he was looking for. Kate was here and he could smell the musty scent of her arousal and dry heaved into the dirt.

“Whoa!” Scott shouted in surprise as Derek tried to breathe through his mouth. “What is it? Did you smell something?”

Derek coughed and moved away from the smell, Kate was here and she had been aroused and he knew better than a lot of people that the scent did not lead to good things especially since Kate thought Stiles was a werewolf supporter. He couldn’t stand the idea of that.

“I smell Peter, he was here.”

“What?” Derek whispered, still stuck in a looping memory of Kate grinding against him and saying things to him, that he wasn’t good enough and never would be and why did she even try anymore. Then he took another breath in through his nose and when he wasn’t close to the ground he could smell Peter too. It wasn’t as strong as Kate’s scent or Stiles’s scent but it was there like he’d come and gone instead of permeated the area with his scent for over a day. It was also coiled around Stiles’s retreating scent trail and Derek realized that they had a trail again.

Maybe Peter wanted to be found or maybe he was just to crazy to think it through but it led back out into the forest while Scott followed behind him and wondering what the hell was going. “I think something happened and I think that Peter has Stiles.”

“But Kate had him, why would Peter take Stiles and not kill Kate? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Derek had to agree, “We have to follow the trail and see if it leads somewhere.”

“We need to hurry,” Scott whispered. Derek paused because it was so out of left field that he didn’t know why Scott was saying it until he noticed the gold tint to Scott’s eyes and the claws starting to peak out of his fingers.

“Shit!”

“I’m freaked man and it’s the full moon and we need to get him back!”

Derek took off his jacket and started stripping out of the rest of his clothes while Scott sputtered, “I am full shifting, I can move faster and I can smell _everything_ but I need you to keep my phone close in case we get a call from the Sheriff and keep up. Stay focused on Stiles, finding him. Use Stiles and your friendship with him as your anchor!”

Scott nodded but his eyes were shining gold and his face was shifting a little at a time. Derek dropped his pants and put them all into a pile that Scott picked up instead of looking at him as he shifted. Derek stood there for a minute and wondered if he would be able to find it again when he thought about Stiles and about the friendship they were building, the closest thing to family he’d had in years besides Laura. He didn’t know what to do if this didn’t work but then he was dropping to his knees while his body shifted and conformed slowly. It wasn’t painful, like shedding all that humanity and sinking into the wolf was a haven that he’d found again and he wasn’t willing to lose it again without a fight.

He would fight for Stiles so they could maybe figure whatever the hell they were to each other someday. He didn’t even know what he was feeling, but it felt a lot like what he’d felt with his family and that was confusing enough.

Then he was standing and looking up at Scott, he could see _everything_ and _smell everything_ including Stiles and now that they were heading out of the Kate saturated area he could smell his uncle’s scent as well. He took off, and panted in amusement as Scott swore and took off after him. Stiles and Peter’s scents were strong and they were wandering around in the forest and he groaned in frustration when he realized that Peter was messing with him. He knew that Derek was going to come looking for him and he’d set a trail. It left Derek wondering if this was going to lead anywhere and yeah the guy was an alpha but did he really wander around the whole Preserve with Stiles on his back or something?

About the time that he was circling back around towards the back of the Hale property when he caught sight of the red beacon hanging from one of the second floor windows and quickly shifted back to his human form and stared in disbelief.

It was the sweater they had been using earlier that evening to familiarize with Stiles’s scent. How the hell did it end up out here? The only explanation was that Peter had been following him. “Fuck!”

“What?” Scott called when he came up next to Derek and tossed his clothes at the naked werewolf. “Is that Stiles’s sweater? How did it get out here? Is that what we’ve been following for the last two hours?”

Derek flopped down to his knees on the ground and screamed out in frustration, “Peter knows we’re looking for him, he set a distraction and I didn’t even notice until we were back here. I don’t know what to do or where to look Scott. He’s going to turn Stiles and he doesn’t want to be a werewolf.”

Scott grunted, shoved Derek’s clothes in his lap and jumped up to grab the sweater and bring it close to his chest. “Derek, we’re going to have to go back and get the Sheriff’s help and I need to go to the vault. I can’t control it like you do.”

Derek grunted and dragged on his clothes, thinking about the conversation that he was going to have to have with Sheriff Stilinski after he failed to bring his son back. He didn’t know where to start now and Scott was losing control and this was proof enough that he wouldn’t be able to hack being an alpha, he has people depending on him for a few days and it all falls apart.

Scott, in a burst of werewolf power, dragged Derek to his feet and punched him in the face causing them both to wince. The teenager grabbed his fist where Derek was sure he’d heard a crack as Derek rolled his jaw, “What the hell was that for?”

“It’s not the time for self-pity and giving up, we are all depending on you to keep us together. You know what Stiles does when plan A-Z doesn’t work don’t you?”

“Starts back at A?” Derek asked, not really knowing there he was going with this.

“That’s right so make a new plan and fall apart later!”

Derek nodded and they took off away from the Hale house, not seeing the red gaze watching them from deep in the forest and they didn’t hear the snort of amusement as Peter walked back to the storm cellar door and walked down into the earth where he was closest to the power. He would take more of it into himself if he could but magic was notorious for not working well with werewolves because they were a different kind of magic. For now, though he had exactly what he needed to take the rest of those who were at fault for the deaths of his wife and unborn child, he had what he needed to make sure that Scott and Derek came to him before the full moon was over.

Peter had Stiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried not to go into too much detail but also honor what Stiles is going through, honestly its something that people experience, just leaving their body when things like this happen so I hope it read well and poor guy is just getting passed around at this point. Ugh *Rolls Eyes*
> 
> To be fair this was in the plan for weeks, that Kate would have him for a while but Peter would end up with him for the final part of the fic and Stiles being snarky is always a gift ;)


	13. The Final Stand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is still missing and now Peter has him, Derek and Scott are still arguing and Sheriff Stilinski is really sick of leaving the rescue of his only son to these knuckleheads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok Love. Be Afraid. Fans, please bear with me, this chapter is pretty involved as well as raw so all mistakes are mine. I have every intention of working on things again .... 
> 
> Back to plot: trying to get people to where they need to be. Just a couple more chapters to go ....
> 
> This has been one of the most amazing writing journeys for me and I am glad to say its not over by a long shot.

“Full moon is coming tonight,” Peter whispered reverently while Stiles stared at the beams holding the dirt cave ceiling over their head. He didn’t have any desire or intention to speak to his _second_ kidnapper. When did this become his life anyway?

Oh, right; when he dragged his best friend into the woods to find a dead body. What kind of idiot does that? Apparently, Stiles does and now he really had no one to blame but himself in this scenario. He was the weak link in the werewolf chain, he was an easy mark and Scott would do anything to get him back. He would let a hundred other people die to save one Stiles Stilinski and the King of Snark himself could barely get away from Kate, there was no way he was going to get away from Peter.

“I saved you, ya know? It would be appropriate to say thank you.” Peter crawled across the floor and pressed up close to Stiles’s face and the teenager shifted to the side so he wasn’t looking right into the deep red of those eyes.

Peter pressed a hand to the side of his neck in a controlling and abrasive squeeze, an ugly mirror of something that Derek did to Stiles more than once since they agreed to be pack and let go of the weirdness. It made Stiles miss his pack-mate. His friend, who was going to have to get past his uncle to save Stiles.

“You know he can’t kill me? He’s too weak to do it.”

Stiles shifted over to look at the man and spit in his face, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t think for a second that you know what he’s gone through and what he’s capable of. You don’t know what you’ve done by taking me!”

Peter grinned toothily and snapped his claws out and pressing them to Stiles’s throat. The captive teen refused to flinch even though part of him was sure that if he fought back then the shock would come back. Damn, Kate fucked him sideways in such a short time! How the hell was Derek still capable of being kind _ever_ if she’d been screwing him physically and emotionally for months?

“I know that because I have you, I have all the cards. You are the Sheriff’s son, you are Scott’s best friend and he would do anything to save you, and Derek has some very confusing feelings, an _affection_ for you that I just don’t understand. For some reason on the Lacrosse field, they all listened to you and I don’t know what that means but if _I have you then I have them all!_ ”

“Bullshit!”

“No Stiles, you see I have been watching all of them long enough and I might not be playing with a full deck of cards but I’m not stupid, you may be some worthless human.”

“Hey!” Stiles shouted.

“But you do have something, you are clever and they are willing to listen and work together when you’re around but now that you’re gone, their fighting and running around in the forest like bumbling giants and they don’t know how to get here. You can’t stop me from taking my revenge, none of you can.”

“Then go off and carry out your master plan! What are you doing here telling me all about your story, why do you care about me?”

“Because Stiles, it could have easily been you.”

Stiles stilled for a moment and glared at him even as he chose to say nothing. He was pretty sure he knew where this was going, there is really only one way for this to go and he didn’t want to hear it. He knew what he wanted and what his answer was a couple of days ago but now… After everything he’d gone through with Kate. He didn’t want what the werewolf was offering, not after everything that he went through with Scott but he was weak right now.

“You’d be every bit as powerful as Scott is. No more standing by his side watching him become stronger, while it is making him more popular and watching him get the girl—you’d be equals.”

Peter shifted a little, his fangs dropping in his mouth and his face starting to morph like he couldn’t control the first shift. He leaned in close and Stiles struggled away and jerked his head around in a sharp snap that rammed his jaw into the side of Peter’s head.

“No! I don’t want to be like you!”

Peter grinned and shook his head, “You know what I just heard there?” he paused and started again, “Your heart…”

Stiles growled and figured maybe he’d been spending too much time with Derek and he didn’t hate that at all and he interrupted the alpha before he could continue, “You heard me say no, whatever my heart was saying or doing doesn’t fucking matter,” Stiles snapped. “You asked and I answered so knock it off!”

Peter tutted disappointed and turned away from Stiles, first making sure that he was secured to the wood beam that he was leaning against. Then he turned and walked out of the dirt dungeon without another word and Stiles breathed a sigh of relief that there wasn’t something electrocuting him and Kate didn’t have him anymore. Peter wasn’t a picnic and Stiles knew that if he continued to anger the guy nothing good was going to come of that but at least he wasn’t being burned out from the inside anymore.

With a shrug, he returns to his homework in his brain, answering questions and just letting his mind wander along a meandering path that stays close to academic as opposed to what was happening with his friends because he didn’t want to start freaking out.

Then with one errant thought he wondered what they were going to do for Jackson and Allison, tonight was the full moon, even what they did for them last night when Scott and Derek were looking for him and they were fighting the pull of the moon. He was still missing and no one was taking care of Allison and Jackson like Stiles and Derek had done, poorly, for Scott. Right now everyone would be focused on finding Stiles and not thinking that the nascent wolves needed training, Jackson especially since he’s such a control-freak-douchebag.

The suck-fest part of having this one thought climb into his lazy train of thought is that it turned the lazy thoughts into a high-speed jet engine attached to the front of his train of thought and nothing could slow it down or stop it as he thought about his father, he wondered if Scott and Derek were fighting like Peter told him oh so smugly. He hoped they could use this opportunity to get over some of their butt-sticks about each other. Stiles sighed, it figured he wouldn’t be that lucky. Those two guys were just so stubborn, like two dogs with a bone, he thought with a dry chuckle. Of course, the sucky part was that Stiles was the bone they were essentially fighting about and they couldn’t put their petty shit aside long enough to get him back from the baddies?

He was better off saving himself.

With that in mind, he started struggling against the bonds around his chest and wrapped tightly around the beam. His hands were tied behind his back, pushing him forward a little bit which was entirely uncomfortable and Stiles is pretty sure that Peter did it to purposefully be a douche.

Stiles didn’t think he was going to get out but he wasn’t going to stop fighting. If Scott and Derek were going to keep fighting to find him, if they were both willing to put themselves at risk on the night of the full moon than the best thing he could do was fight too.

 

Scott leaned against the outside door of the vault, breathing heavily while Derek opened the door while Lydia tapped her foot obnoxiously. The teen wolf was losing control, the full moon was coming and Scott was without his support system. He apparently hadn’t even known how much Stiles was a part of Scott’s control as well. Allison was his anchor but Stiles’s support and friendship was a part of that.

Finally, there was a third click and the door stopped to swing open and the other two teenagers started to push it back only to share a gasp that confused the hell out of Derek until he took a step forward and looked at Allison wrapped around Jackson with their clothes disheveled and Allison’s lipstick was smeared. Derek could smell the lust, though he didn’t think anything besides kissing had happened though it was enough in the face of their significant other. Lydia stumbled back a couple of steps as Allison shifted and woke up enough to look around and see everyone staring at them. She held her hand beseechingly out to Lydia, not Scott and Derek groaned because what the hell was Peter thinking that he should get himself involved with a bunch of teenagers? And because Peter was crazy and he didn’t even really care about the pack, Derek was going to be stuck with them.

Even being a born werewolf, full moons can make you do stupid things, everything was heightened and he can understand why this happened but it was a betrayal and teenagers were already emotional land mines.

Scott roared and Derek cursed as he threw himself between the werewolf and the other captain of the lacrosse team while Jackson pushed Allison off of him and behind him even as he rose and tried to look terrifying instead of terrified.

“Knock it off!” Derek shouted, his eyes turning sharp blue and his claws extended just as Scott turned on him and attacked. They both stumbled backwards and to the ground with a huff as Scott’s shoulder knocked the air out of his lungs. Lydia screamed in the background while there were screams and shouts from the vault while they tussled on the ground. Scott, using his claws and scratching at any part of Derek that he could reach while the born wolf just tried to fend him off without hurting him. Scott was without an anchor, he felt betrayed and his best friend was missing. Derek refused to make everything worse by hurting him.

“Scott!” Allison screamed and the shock of hearing her so close to them surprised Derek enough that he didn’t block the last swing and Scott’s claws struck across his throat and he shoved the suddenly still teenager off his chest. Suddenly Allison was there and pulling Scott away from Derek and pressing a hand to the deep gouges in his neck while Derek breathed wetly, coughing up blood knowing better than any of these people that he was going to heal. The wounds were already closing from the deepest part of the wound and the pain he felt was minimal at best. After all, he’d run into a burning building and earned the consequences of that action, put a lot of pain into perspective.

“Derek?” Allison called out, her voice breaking from the fear that he would have been able to smell if it wasn’t for the scent of his own blood getting in the way.

“Healing,” he gurgled and she lifted her hand and noticed the blood flow thinning and stopping. He knew that Scott wouldn’t have hurt him all that badly but it was more shock then pain. He couldn’t take Scott back out there and the others needed to be watched but leaving Allison in Scott’s presence wasn’t a good idea either.

“It’s day time, should it be better?” Lydia asked all of a sudden.

Derek shook his head, waving away Allison’s hand as he sat up and wiped away the blood to show that he was okay. “It doesn’t matter because this is the night of the full moon, everything is going to be heightened, it’s going to be easier to lose control all day and into the night when you need to get back here.”

Allison was still shaking, staring down at her blood-soaked hands. Then she turned towards Scott and held her hands outstretched, “Scott?”

“Don’t touch me! Not after whatever you did with him last night.”

“Oh,” she cried as she found her anger though it was still wrapped up in shock and terror about what she’d just seen or done, “You get to be mad about that? It was like being taken over and it didn’t mean anything. Like I could ever want anything from him!”

“Hey!” Jackson shouted, “You know that just isn’t true.”

“Jackson,” Lydia screeched and Derek was just so freaking done.

“You don’t get to be angry here!” Allison screamed before Derek had a chance to speak, “You lied to me about yourself, you knew about the pen because you were listening to my private conversation _outside_! You knew about the party and I just liked you so much that I just accepted the invitation but not only that, you lied to me about my own family! You knew what they were doing and you didn’t care enough to tell me.”

Derek dragged himself to his feet and turned away from the unfolded drama surrounding him and started walking towards the exit because they didn’t have time for this. He hadn’t gone to speak to the Sheriff yet and hopefully Scott wouldn’t do anything stupid. Derek paused and groaned, Scott was going to actively look for the stupid thing to do and Stiles wasn’t here. They needed Stiles and he didn’t know what else to do. His shoulders slumped as he turned around only to realize that no one was screaming at each other. He looked up and saw them all standing there, Scott at the front with Allison standing to his left while Lydia and Jackson stood to the right.

“I need him back Derek, he’s been telling me for the last couple of weeks that I need to care about something more than the girl and the being popular. The most important person in my life besides my mom is Stiles and I need him back. I need your help Derek, we all do.”

“Are you done then?” Derek growled.

They all looked at each other and he could smell the reek of all the shit left over from everything, nothing was over and they looked away from each other in shame and resentment before they looked back at Derek, “It’s not more important than him, to me.”

Derek looked at the rest of them. Jackson shrugged, “I have no damns to give about Stilinski, he’s just the idiot number two to this one,” he snapped as he pointed to Scott who growled but contained the wolf for the moment. “But this isn’t going to change anything, you already said that we don’t know control and if I learn control I get to be back on top again.”

Derek and Scott both rolled their eyes at the smug son of a bitch but didn’t say anything.

“I don’t know if we can help but I do know that I can’t live with the idea that maybe we could have done something.”

The born werewolf watched Allison as she hugged herself, “I won’t survive my family without your help. I’ll do whatever I need to do to get your help.”

Derek shrugged, it wasn’t a resounding positive response but it was a start. At least they weren’t yelling at each other at the moment. Sadly, he didn’t know how to let them help him. All he had was—nothing, he had nothing. Derek scrubbed his hand over his face and turned back towards the exit and walked out. The time was ticking down and he didn’t have time to babysit the nascent wolves.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed the Sheriff and the man answered quickly, “Stilinski here.”

“Sir? I didn’t find him, she had him at the Hale property but they’ve moved and I am pretty sure Peter has him now. I don’t know where else to look!”

“Derek!” the Sheriff snapped, “Calm down.”

It wasn’t until that moment that he realized that he was breathing heavily and his heart beat was rabbiting against his chest and he desperately wanted to disappear into the wolf. It was easier because he wouldn’t be dragged down by all the emotions he was feeling but as Scott said earlier, they had to find something. Stiles always had another plan and all he had to do was find it but he hadn’t been asked to do anything besides lay low and go to school for years now. Laura had been the alpha of their little two-person pack and she’d been so good at it. Laura had been the one who their mother was teaching how to be an alpha, there was a clear line of succession before the fire so it was fitting that she ended up with their mother’s power.

“Derek, we are looking for him, every single deputy is out there looking for him, asking people for information but what I need you to do is search the preserve and use everything you have, if Peter does have him, would he go into a building or would he stay at the Preserve?”

“Preserve,” Derek whispered, knowing that it was true. Peter was safe out there, he had the advantage and he wouldn’t willing give it up. It was their home, their birthright and though the town was trying to put it back in the hands of the state and condemn the building—the land that would always belong to the Hale family as long as one of them was alive.

“The deputies and I are in town, I need your nose in that Preserve and get my son back!”

“Sir,” he whispered and hung up the phone.

“Back to the Preserve,” Scott said with a nod.

“Scott, we need help, something… Anything that would give us an advantage. Go to Deaton.”

The teenager nodded and looked over at the others, “Should we all stick together?”

Jackson and Allison both go stiff at the concept but Derek shrugged, “It would be best and maybe Deaton can help. Stay together and be safe. Stay away from people and I don’t trust them at all but the hunters are going after Peter and between them and us we might have enough to take even an alpha down. He’s going to be stronger and more vicious, we all know that by now and its that much worse because he’s clearly unhinged from the catatonic state and the fire. Scott and I don’t have what it takes alone and even then. I won’t take Jackson, Allison and Lydia into a fight and you’re not ready Scott. You should stay away when I find him.”

“But I won’t,” Scott responded quickly and it wasn’t a question.

“But you won’t,” Derek nodded because he knew that if it was Laura out there, he wouldn’t stop until he had her back. “Keep your cell on and if I come across anything I will call and let you know.”

Scott nodded.

“When the moon rises, Lydia I need you to get them back here. Don’t go into the vault with them, the first moon is always the hardest and things happen because you are so wound tight. Try to remember that.” Lydia and the other nodded and the red-head looked far too pleased with the idea of locking her boyfriend and best friend in the vault.

Derek nodded and took off out of the bank and through town, focusing on his sense of smell for anything that might lead him into the direction of his uncle. Peter had Stiles but he would still have some revenge to seek and though Derek didn’t know if there were any other targets, he knew that Kate Argent was a target and if nothing else he knew how to find her and they would be looking for him.

The best thing he could do is go to the Argent’s and act as if he was helping them. Maybe they would have another way to bring Peter in, the Preserve was too large and despite the house being the only large building on the property, there were all sorts of caves and holes he could have shoved Stiles into.

With that in mind he headed for the Argent’s house, he’d dropped Allison off and in his early days with Scott he was always finding the teenager there rather than at home where he should have been so he found the two story easily. He walked up to the door and took a deep breath, he couldn’t tell who was inside and there was no way he was walking inside that house at all. He didn’t even like that he was here along where Kate could be. He could tell there were multiple heartbeats coming from inside but he didn’t know one from the next.

He reached out and knocked then took two large steps backwards so no one who opened that door could grab him. When the door swung open and Chris was standing there, glaring out into the mid morning sunlight and sneered at Derek.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded loudly, bringing others to the door as well. First his wife, with her short red hair and business woman/mom clothes and sneered at him. He wondered if they practiced that together in the mirror in the morning so they would always be able to make any person or werewolf feel small and meaningless with a look.

“Derek Hale,” she started as she crossed her arms, “What possible reason could you have for coming here when it’s a full moon tonight and we could do our duty and just kill you where you stand?”

The werewolf took his phone out of his pocket and dialed the most recent number and put it on speaker phone before the Sheriff answered. “Stilinski here.”

Both Argents stared at him in surprise as there was a sound of fumbling then Stilinski came back and asked, “Derek, are you there?”

“Sheriff just so you know, the new Argents in town are in the same business as the old ones. If I don’t come back, they were the ones who got in the way of getting your son back.”

Argent’s jaw dropped in surprise while his wife turned beet red in anger, wishing she could say something but clearly they felt as trapped as he wanted them to feel. It was the same way he’d felt anyone time he knew there were hunters around: trapped. He didn’t even feel bad about the sick glee he was feeling because for once, they were feeling it and he didn’t even have to trap them in a burning house to do it.

“Oh? Good to know. Can I assume you are confronting them for a reason?”

“Yeah, a couple reasons actually: Kate Argent is the one who kidnapped Stiles from the hospital. The alpha has him now but she took him first, tortured him under the Hale house for a little over a day.”

“Now see here!” Victoria sputtered and Chris held up his hand to quiet her. The red in her cheeks were sinking down the column of her neck and her bust. Argent’s frown deepened as the Sheriff took a couple of deep breaths before he spoke.

“Are you telling me that the people that claim to protect people for you ‘monsters’” Derek flinched because he couldn’t not react to that word, “Took my son and hurt him? Is she there? I am going to come over there and kill her, then arrest her!”

Derek tilted his head to Argent in question, “Where is your dear sister?”

The hunter shook his head, “She hasn’t been here most of the day. We saw her this morning but that was it.”

“The other reason I am here is because I don’t have any methods to find a werewolf in the forest and I am here to ask them for assistance so I can find your son and take care of Peter. The Argents owe the Hales more than this and I am here to collect.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” the woman demanded and he was surprised that she was related to Allison at all, she was so severe and cold, she didn’t care about anything he was saying. She only really cared that he was outing them to the sheriff and casting aspersions on their ‘good’ name.

“Kate Argent took her chance all those years ago, used what she could find out from an innocent and broken kid and burned his family inside their home. There were humans in our home, most of our family was there and nothing you say or do will ever make up for the fact that your sweet sister didn’t care enough about your precious code to leave my family alive. And now the rest of them are gone, I am just trying to make sure the alpha can’t hurt anyone else; especially an innocent human.”

“You can’t prove that!” Allison’s mother sneered.

“You know how much I don’t care right now what happened all those years ago, it happened and I am going to find out for you Derek but right now, every single one of you better be looking for my son otherwise I am going to arrest every single one of you!” the Sherriff’s voice brooked no argument.

“Yes sir,” Derek said and hung up, staring into the contemptuous glares still coming at him.

“You can’t prove anything you are saying, I can’t believe you told the Sheriff all these lies about our family,” Allison’s mom shouted.

Derek tapped on his phone and found the recording he took from a couple of days ago and played if for them, when Kate admitted to what she did to him when he was younger and what he did to the Hale house. He watched their faces, watched them fall with realization and he realized that the woman didn’t care what Kate had done but Chris cared.

He looked gut-punched and broken, especially after the brutal way Kate described what she’d done to him and his family. Derek didn’t like hearing it again either, “I will make sure this gets into the right hands after all this is over. Trust me on that but right now all I care about is getting Stiles away from the alpha.”

“She did what to you? You were fifteen!” Argent exclaimed.

“You’re going to believe him about this?” She-Argent demanded.

Argent nodded and walked back into the house and started grabbing things, walking away while the lady stood in the doorway and just watched Derek as her husband walked quickly in the house. There was still another heartbeat in the house but the Argents, like any other hunter, had minions that worked for them so he didn’t really care who it was as long as he didn’t need to come face-to-face with Kate. Then Argent was walking out the door and Derek moved out of the way.

“What are you going to do to help me find him?”

“Whatever it takes,” Argent returned, “I am not going to work with you. I am going to help to find the Sheriff’s son and take down the Alpha and that’s all I am going to do. You can do whatever you want with that recording, Kate will deserve the consequences but that doesn’t mean we’re friends or even allies. I am not going to kill you today, that’s all I have.”

Derek shrugged and figured that was the best he was going to get, nodded to the hunter and ran off into the darkness. He couldn’t depend on Kate’s morality but he had a feeling that he could depend on Chris Argent’s need to do the right thing.

Heading back to the Hale house in the Preserve was the only thing he knew how to do. He pushed himself and got there very quickly with the help of his werewolf speed then he sat down on the dilapidated porch and closed his eyes. He thought about the Preserve, places on the property that could serve as a place to keep Stiles. There were a few caves, underground locations but he didn’t know if any of them would hold a hostage. Then he had a quick flash of a grinning cello player in a quiet root cellar at a base of a very large tree. He jerked up and took off in the direction that he vaguely remembered it being in but he didn’t have the exact location in mind but Derek was sure that’s where he was at.

Derek shifted into his beta form and tried to find anything that would tell him he was heading in the right direction but there was nothing. That could just mean that neither of them came this way or it had been long enough that the scent dissipated.

The trees in this part of the Preserve were loosely grouped and he was easily able to keep up the easy pace and finally came up to the door into the root cellar. He took a deep breath and smiled, it was _him!_ Stiles was here and he was so close to getting to him. He pulled open the door and without any warning at all something slammed into his chest and threw him backwards.

Derek spun and rolled, regaining his feet quickly in time to hear the simple clap-clap-clap and his uncle as he started to talk, “Well done nephew, you finally foiled the plan and found your pack-mate once more!”

He wheezed as his chest plate healed and snapped back into place and he looked over as Peter rushed him, there was no time before Peter moved around the back of him and slammed his claws into the base of Derek’s neck. He growled then screamed at the jarring pain and the intrusion he knew was coming before he froze and opened his eyes again only to find himself at the Hale house remains and staring at Laura.

“Laura?” he whispered.

There wasn’t any answer, he wasn’t really here with his older sister. This was a memory of Peter’s and it was clearly before she died but not by much so it was when she came back to Beacon Hills. She was staring at him in surprise, “Peter?” she asked in shock. “How are you awake and we didn’t know about it?”

“Because my sweet niece, I didn’t want you to know. I suppose I never thought about the fact that having another family member back would have been enough to bring you back to town but I needed this to be a surprise. Though the list in your possession, you should hand that over now.”

“What list?” Laura asked and Derek didn’t need to be in the room when this happened to know that Laura was lying. He watched as Peter’s hand, his hand, wrapped tightly around Laura’s throat and she glared up at him.

“Don’t lie to me! I need to know who was responsible and you know! Now give me the names of the people responsible for the fire!”

“Why?” Laura gasped and Derek realized that she didn’t need to know she was just stalling for time. It wasn’t going to be useful if he snapped her neck though, Derek could feel the incandescent rage inside his uncle, he could sense the overwhelming insanity that was coloring everything he was doing. He loved his wife, was happily awaiting the arrival of his child and all of that had been destroyed before he’d even really had a chance at it. Before then Peter had been all about the chase, the manipulation and the win but when he met her: his mate had made him want to change and now there was nothing.

Derek didn’t think he could stay here much longer without diving into the abyss of insanity that was his uncle’s mind but he focused as Peter spoke. “I am going to kill every single one of them!”

“I don’t even know if they really are at fault, you don’t know for sure.”

“Won’t matter,” Peter hissed out, “I saw them! I know who was there and you know where they are now. Give me the list and I’ll let you go even though you don’t deserve to go free after you abandoned me here to my fleshy prison.”

“I had to,” Laura cried out, words almost garbled under the pressure Peter was putting on her throat. “Derek was fading, I had to save my little brother! I couldn’t let him be destroyed by this too. He was all I had left.”

“No!” Peter’s eyes were flaring, Derek could tell as he slipped into wolf vision for a moment before he shook Laura violently and she wobbled like a rag doll in his stranglehold. “He wasn’t the only one you had left! You left me here to die alone! But I didn’t die!! Now where’s the list?”

Laura looked over his shoulder and Peter turned and caught sight of Laura’s computer, the Mac she bought when she found a job. Yes, they had plenty of fire and life insurance money from losing everyone but she’d celebrated when she got her first paycheck, dipping into their money and bought herself that. It was one of the first times Derek had smiled after the fire, when she came into the apartment bouncing around and holding the signature white box. “The password is capital D, DerekandLaura4ever and it’s the number four.”

“Thank you Laura,” Peter said in saccharine sweetness and Derek closed his eyes because he could _feel_ what Peter was about to do. He pushed and shoved against the connection between himself and Peter even as he heard his sister’s screams and felt Peter’s joy at destroying her. Then he felt the transition of power and Peter shifted right then.

Derek pulled away as soon as the connection was broken and he looked around, wondering how the hell he’d gotten out into the middle of the forest and was it night time the last time he’d looked? His gaze swung in an all-encompassing arc as he searched the area for clues as to why or how he was here.  There was nothing of note to help him, with no memory to guide him Derek dragged his legs up to his chest and held onto them for a second, wishing not for the first time that he could shift into the wolf and just run.

Such a weird dream, seeing himself killing Laura and imagining Peter was awake, Derek shuddered thinking about their apartment and wished she was here now. His hands shook as he grabbed the cell phone from his pocket and looked for her number finding her contact deleted so he dialed it from memory, thinking that if he called her then she could help him find his way back to home though he didn’t know anywhere in New York that looked like this.

It actually reminded him of the Preserve in Beacon Hills.

Laura’s phone rang and rang and rang, then the voicemail picked up with her cheerfully saying, “Leave a message if you want me to call you back, I don’t do hang ups!”

“Hey Laura, I woke up in the forest and I don’t know where I am. Can you call me back as soon as possible?”

He ended the phone call and looked at the phone with a frown, this wasn’t the phone he remembered having. And the date was wrong, it was two months later and there were other numbers on this phone that he didn’t recognize in the least.

“What the hell is a Stiles?” he muttered as he flicked through their conversation. It started with finding him a place to live _in Beacon Hills_! What the hell was he doing back here? He didn’t want to be here, he’d never wanted to return though Laura had been making trips back for the last couple of weeks. He looked around again and ignored the rapid fire of his heartbeat and the way the hair stood up on the back of his neck. He continued looking through the conversation only to realize apparently, he was in the same town as _Kate fucking Argent!_ He looked at the last two calls made to a Sheriff Stilinski. He vaguely remembered a Stilinski, his mother told him about the man and maybe there was something about a wife and a son, but he didn’t remember anything specific and he had no clue what the man’s number was doing on his phone.

He pressed the little phone icon anyway and held the phone up to his ear, “Derek?” the man asked immediately and he could hear the fear in the other man’s voice and he was left wondering why. “Did you find him?”

“Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just woke up in the woods and I don’t even know why I’m back in this godforsaken town and you were the last person I called and I have no memory of any of this!”

“God dammit Derek, you need to find my son Stiles! You are out there because your Uncle is the alpha and he is terrorizing this town and he took my son. You said you cared about him now I don’t care what you do or don’t remember. Find my son!”

Derek felt the echo of forgotten memory, his heartbeat thumping in a steady rhythm of warmth and caring at the sound of the angry man on the other end of the phone because of this person—Stiles. He didn’t remember him, Derek didn’t know him but he was important and the werewolf didn’t need a memory to listen to what his wolf had to say. Then he thought about the dream, the one that seemed so far out of left field and felt the echo of Peter’s mind inside his own and reached up and around to the back of his neck and found claw marks and sobbed into the phone.

“My uncle? He’s awake and he’s the alpha? That means Laura, my sister?”

“She’s in the morgue,” Derek released a small whimper at the thought of his sister being dead and his uncle was the cause. He understood that this was the second time he’d come to this conclusion if he’d told this man where they were and where his son probably was but his heart was breaking all over again and everything here smelled like life before the fire! Stilinski continued, “I can show her to you when you’re ready but Stiles has already been missing for over two days. I need him back Derek!”

The werewolf gulped and knew what he needed to do. He wanted to find this Stiles person, there was something inside him that needed to find him, it felt like a new bond. “I need help Sir, I don’t remember anything from the last couple of weeks. I need someone who knows what’s going on around here. I remember the Preserve but I don’t know where I’ve looked. I don’t know what I found. If I’m back here, do I have a pack? Is Stiles a part of it?”

“Yes,” the man husked, “Stiles was close and you considered him pack. You have Scott McCall, call him. You forced the hunters to help you so I’m guessing they are out there somewhere as well and my men are out there canvassing the town. You were sure that Peter would be in the Preserve so stay on it. I would be out there myself but I have been working on the search from here but you know what. I’m done waiting. Find your way back to the Hale house, we’re coming to you!”

Then the man was gone, hung up and Derek put his head back and howled into the sky. He wanted to hear if anyone would answer but he also knew geographically speaking, what his howl sounded like in different areas of the Preserve and it could help him to get his bearings, it would be a better option then just getting up and wandering around. The howl went on for a moment and when it faded away he listened to the sound and turned sharply as he heard the familiar echo in the forest and scrambled to his feet.

Then he heard the return howl and took off towards it, tripping over his own feet for a second before he straightened even as he wondered who it was. It had to be the other pack member—Scott. He looked around him as he moved then lengthened his stride, shifted and put on as much speed as he could get.

He just hoped there was some answers when he arrived.

 

“Stop grabbing me! I mean it! I’m going!” Stiles slurred out, feeling weak from the lack of food and water or rest. Something had happened, Stiles heard a struggle up above his head about fifteen minutes before then Peter had come down and ripped off the rope that was tying him down and started dragging him up the stairs and out into the fresh night air. He’d been gone for over two days now and he could feel every minute of it.

“We have to move now! I bought us some time but I need more to get my revenge.”

“What happened?” Stiles demanded as he attempted to struggle but he couldn’t. Peter just grabbed him and they continued walking while Stiles tripped and stumbled more than he moved forward.

“Come on, stop it!” Peter growled, the rumble of the sound reverberating inside his chest and into Stiles where they were smashed together.

“Yeah, I’m doing it on purpose!” Stiles husked back sarcastically and attempted to snort with derision for good measure but he was just too tired. Stiles panted from the exertion of walking even as Peter held him upright with an arm around his back and both hands gripping his arms. “Tell me!”

“If you were a werewolf you would already know. Derek found us so I had to take some of his memories.”

Stiles stalled out and pulled away from Peter suddenly, the alpha released him in shock and Stiles fell to the ground as his heart stuttered into a shaky rhythm before speeding up again, “What did you take?”

Peter shrugged as he stood over Stiles, then leaned down and lifted him again. “I tried to take the information of where we were but I’m not very good at it. Talia was pretty good at it but then again she was good at everything,” he sneered and Stiles sighed when Peter lifted the teenager out of the dirt again and slung him loosely over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“If he doesn’t remember me and all the time it took to get close,” Stiles paused and took in a wheezing breath. Peter’s shoulder blade digging into his stomach wasn’t doing his tired and battered body any favors. “I am going to fry your ass!”

Peter chuckled, “This thing the two of you have is not normal, you do realize that, don’t you?”

“Don’t care,” Stiles whispered. “I only care about you not hurting him anymore, you’ve done enough. And now, genius, you can’t use me to hurt him.”

“Oh Stiles, you see there is where you are wrong. He will feel it, the bond will confuse him but it will not disappear. Plus you are still useful because of your father and Scott. And I have already told you that it’s never going to be enough until everyone who were responsible are dead.”

“And Laura?” Stiles snapped, wishing he could keep up the fight but the adrenaline was slithering down and out of his body, it was a wave through his body—leaving behind nothing to fight with.

“She left me!” Peter snarled and Stiles felt the tightening of his fingers around Stiles’s legs and they were tipped with dangerous claws for a moment and Stiles stopped breathing and considered apologizing for his mouth but he didn’t want to and he didn’t know if it would just make things worse at the moment so he stuck with silence, barely broken for the sake of his wheezing breaths. Those sharp claws sank back away from the teenager’s skin and he breathed a sigh of relief that last for about a second before they stopped and Peter walked upwards and into a building, leaving Stiles to guess where they were then Peter dropped him without any warning and Stiles grunted and dragged himself into a ball on the ground.

“Well now, it seems like everything is going to come together soon enough but I need to leave you somewhere so you won’t get into any more trouble.”

“What trouble?” Stiles wheezed angrily, wishing he didn’t sound like a dilapidated windbag.

“Ah!” Peter said excitedly then Stiles turned his head just enough to realize they had to be at the Hale house, it looked familiar though the teenager had never actually walked inside the death trap waiting on its next victim so he didn’t really know for sure. Something whined and cried out and Stiles tried to turn his head just as he realized that Peter was ripping up the floorboards and he frowned while the werewolf wiped away the dirt that was underneath and Stiles figured out a second too late that he didn’t want to know what had Peter so excited. He flipped over onto his stomach and reached his hand out and tried to drag himself away, there wasn’t anything to drag himself on though. He quickly lifted his foot and tried to use his toes to give enough leverage so he could push forward and away from the vengeful alpha. All he could hear was a maniacal excited chatter that didn’t actually make any sense. Then just as he was about to touch the doorway into the next room Peter grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him back forcefully. Stiles screeched as the ripped up ground forced splinters under the skin of his stomach where his shirt had quickly ridden up. Then he lifted him up using the lapels of his thin shirt, something Peter had shoved over his head as some point then he dropped Stiles into something with wooden barriers. He looked around and then stared up at Peter who was holding the lid.

“No, nonononononono!!! Peter don’t do this to me! NO!!!!!” he screamed as Peter slammed the lid down and Stiles was encased in wood and Stiles screamed until he was hoarse while the nails were hammered down all around the edges of the coffin. He pressed up against the lid with his knees and elbows, the only way he could.

“Stiles, I just need you to behave yourself. All of this could have been avoided if you were to just say yes but you didn’t and now this is what I must do. You cannot stop me from killing them.”

“No! Peter, please,” Stiles cried, feeling the sting of his tears as they slid down the side of his face. “Please don’t leave me here to die, please. I’ll say yes, just don’t leave me! Please don’t do this!”

Peter was still there and Stiles tried to think but his brain was cutting off in the darkness all around him. Peter asked and respected Stiles’s choice, unlike everyone else he’d come into contact with. There had to be something he could use there. Then he thought back to the dream he’d had only a couple weeks ago, god how did his life change so drastically in such a short time?

“Wait, Peter?”

“What?” Peter asked as there was a subtle thump like the alpha was sitting on the floor of the Hale house next to where he’d buried Stiles.

“You remember my mom? She knew your sister, they were close friends and she died in the hospital before the fire. Do you remember her? Did she mean something to you? Is that why you asked me? Is that why you want me to say yes?”

Peter scoffed, the sound quiet through the echo of the wood all around the teenager.

“Claudia Stilinski?” he asked after a long—long enough to make Stiles think he’d left—minute.

“My mom, yes her name was Claudia.”

“Well isn’t this interesting?” Peter said and suddenly there was a thump as he settled on top of the wooden box, Stiles could _feel_ the pressure of the werewolf’s body on top of the wood and he started breathing quickly again. Again, this is one of the shitty times to be an obsessive learning machine. He knew for a fact that his air was already running out though there were slates between the boards and that would help him keep breathing longer, but if he could finagle Peter into releasing him then at least he wouldn’t suffocate alone and in the ground where Derek had lost so many of his family members.

He couldn’t let this be the end for Derek’s sake or his father’s sake for that matter.

“I remember Claud, that’s what Talia called her. She was beloved within our pack for her tenacity and intelligence. Losing her hurt Talia and the Pack greatly, my dear sister wanted to give her the Bite. Then your father pulled you, such a young child and already so endearingly smart and you were gone.”

“We’re connected,” Stiles gasped out, pressing his hands to the box’s top patting on it like he was tapping on the man’s shoulder as opposed to the slamming and pounding of scared fists, “Her final wish was for my father and me to be accepted and cared for by the Hale Pack, if you cared for her at all—can you really ignore her final wish?”

He knew it was a chance, everything that Stiles had to reference happened before the fire when Peter lost everything. Stiles had no guarantee that this would even matter to the alpha.

“Listen,” Stiles whispered, the tears choking him a little. He coughed but didn’t hide the terror in his chest at the thought of being left here in a fucking shallow grave under the Hale house where a massacre happened. “I lost my mom, you lost someone too, please don’t leave me here. Please don’t do this to someone that was beloved by your family—your pack.”

The silence was choking Stiles after his fervent plea slithered away and Peter said nothing. The werewolf was tapping on the surface of the box. Then there was a click, like with his tongue and he slapped the wooden surface and laughed, “Stiles, you are safer here! I’ll be back before you run out of air. I promise.”

Stiles listened as he left, then took a deep breath and screamed as loud and as long as he could, ignoring the knee jerk embarrassment when his voice cracked under the strain. He kicked his feet and slammed his elbows and hands into the wood above his head until they were bloody. Then his voice failed and he sobbed out in airy denial of his awful circumstances, the hot tears escaping down the side of his head and running into his scalp. “Peter?” he whispered, thinking maybe the crazy bastard was still close enough to hear him but there was nothing and he was alone.

He didn’t think that Peter buried the box so if anyone came close enough he could make noise and they would hear him but that was with the low possibility of someone coming around here. He had no idea if his friends had already been here or if they were on their way anytime soon and if Peter took all of Derek’s memories of Stiles then he wouldn’t even care when the deputies or god forbid his father found his body.

With the idea in mind that he needed to save what energy he had left to fight or in this case scream and raise as much hell as he could if someone came looking for him here. Stiles kept his hands on the wood straight over his face and tapped a jaunty rhythm with is fingers in an attempt to not experience the nausea induced by the closed in space and the darkness. It was like being suddenly blinded, so Stiles kept his eyes shut and hummed along with the sound of his tapping for a little while and _tried_ not to think about all the reasons his body was weakening right now. Kate had left his body in a perpetual low voltage shock for hours on end, he hadn’t eaten in the past two days and drinking water hadn’t even occurred to either one of his captors. How many days was it before someone could die from lack of water, Stiles wondered even as he considered the various shakes and pain. He hadn’t had any Adderall for days because of ending up in the hospital and he wasn’t bouncing around insanely like he figured he would have been without it. He’d been focused on surviving, and all the topics in his head were a great way to pass the time.

And none of that included the fact that barely hours before he’d been kidnapped by Kate’s goons, Peter had his nurse lackey poisoning him in the hospital. Stiles figured this might be the only time he would have to rest and it was at least more comfortable than the post he’d been tied to or the bar slates from before that.

“This weekend has been nothing but a total suckfest,” he whispered as his hands slid down and away from the wood above him to flop down by his side. His limbs grew heavy with the desire to sleep but he kept fighting, not wanting to just go to sleep and not wake up again. He didn’t want to give in _but_ he desperately wanted to rest so he would have the strength to fight or scream or pound on the box when he heard something and finally the darkness in his mind matched the space in the box and Stiles slumped to the side and everything was quiet for a long time.

 

Stiles had no idea how much time has passed when he’s startled awake by the sounds of screaming and gunshots. They were far enough away that he doesn’t hear voice or anything else but they are all echoing loudly inside his mind. Stiles listened, it had to be the hunters or the deputies out in the Preserve looking for him but if they ran into Peter along the way that would explain the gunshots.

And if he started screaming now there wouldn’t be any chance that they would hear him anyway. His eyes jerked around the inside of the box he was in, his hands tried to come up from his sides but they were too heavy and they didn’t move when his brain sent the message. Instead he tried to kick out with his bare feet but they were just as heavy. “No, no no no no nonono!” he husked the word repeatedly, nothing coming from his chapped lips and shattered lungs beside the angry wheeze that was barely audible inside the box.

 _They would never hear him now!_ Stiles realized with a dry cough that would have been a cry of agonized terror if it was possible. If they killed Peter no one would find him here. There were a few other shouts as Stiles relaxed again inside the box and wondered if he slept a little longer, it would all be over. Maybe it would be better this way, he was weak and he didn’t want to have to tell his father what happened to him. He couldn’t imagine telling anyone else and if the feelings he had for Derek would never be reciprocated and their bond had been erased, then not knowing a dead kid wouldn’t be enough to destroy Derek at least. Scott had his mom and even Allison if the two of them could get their heads out of their respective asses and his dad… Stiles couldn’t imagine what would happen to his father, maybe being the Sheriff would be enough and maybe it wouldn’t but right now all he wanted to do was sleep and wish for something more from his life.

It was his own damn fault after all.

Stiles wished he’d had his cell phone, he could leave a message to his dad and his friends instead of just disappearing into the woods and never coming back. He would have told his dad how much he loved and admired him. Noah Stilinski was one of the bravest men that Stiles knew, there was no doubt that they had gotten through the death of his mother by the skin of their teeth and clutching at each other for all the wrong reasons and they ever talked about it when they should have and now—now they had been used to the silence and how did someone fight the silence.

_‘Speak up Mischief!’_

“What?” he husked brokenly at the sound of his mother’s voice. _Oh goody_ , the hallucinations had begun. Undoubtedly the delusions would enlist every single person he loved to make him crazy in the final hours—minutes that he was alive.

_‘My sweet Mischief, you don’t need to run away from this life. I know everything that’s happened to you has you scared to be yourself but you can do this. I knew that you would get through everything and succeed in life because you’re me.’_

“Shut up,” Stiles tried to shout. He didn’t want the last thing he thought of to be his mother saying he can get out of this box, that an alpha werewolf slammed shut on him, and get out of this and be a success. If his mother knew such a thing when he was a little kid, then that’s fine but she isn’t here now and he didn’t want to think about that.

_‘Use everything Stiles, yell and shout! Let them know where you are. Don’t give up!’_

He didn’t say anything, there was nothing out in the woods to say that people were close by, there was no reason to fight and all the reasons to sleep. His father would forgive him for this right?

 _‘Son, please don’t stop fighting. Come back to me here.’_ Now his father’s voice was there and in the darkness it was like Stiles could feel the touch of his father’s palm cupped around his shoulder in comfort. Stiles tried to reach up and catch his dad’s hand but nothing would move.

 _‘Don’t you get it? We need you, I need you!’_ Scott’s voice was slow and far away like Stiles was sitting in a tub with the water over his ears, wavering in the distance.

 _‘You said that I deserved nice things, a pack and friends. Are you going back on your word now? Did you lie to me?’_ Derek’s voice was flat but Stiles could hear and sense the pain that the werewolf was always attempting to hide. He reached out, shaking his head, “No I didn’t lie. I wouldn’t lie about that. We’re the same and I don’t want to go but you’re not here. Goddammit Derek, you’re not here!” he screeched and it took a second to realize he was speaking. His head was starting to feel too large for his skull, everything was getting fuzzy around the edges but he was speaking. Maybe he could scream.

And so he did.

 

~          ~          ~

 

Derek stood over his uncle, claws outstretched and poised to kill his remaining family member when they heard it. Peter had been running away from the wreckage of the house when Derek found him. He growled and they tussled, only to be surrounded by Kate and Chris Argent as well as a few of their lackeys. The two werewolves had to run for cover, all the while Derek was trying to stifle the need to run as far away from Kate as he could get.

Then to make all matter of things worse, the Sheriff showed up then Scott and Allison who were looking a little harsh in the full moon’s light, dragging several glass beakers of something in their hands. Derek snarled at them when everyone started shouting at each other. Chris was shouting at Allison about where she had gone and why was she here. The wolves were growling at each other and Allison was watching her family with tears in her eyes that were thankfully normal.

“What are you doing out here with guns and pointing them at people?” Allison screeched and she ended up shaking the beaker in her hand, Scott reached out and took it away from her and Derek wondered again what she had. Peter tried to squeeze away but Derek grappled with him behind a nearby copse of trees, trying to keep them from shooting either of them.

“You’re not getting away with anything else! You are going to give me back my memories and you are going to give Stiles back to his dad!”

“Just his dad,” Peter wheezed around Derek’s hands and clawed fingertips. Derek’s other hand was wrapped tightly in the folds of his shirt and duster jacket. “You don’t care about him now? Apparently, I really screwed up that memory thing, didn’t I?”

“Give me back what you took and I will consider not killing you where you lay for killing Laura and all those people.”

Scott came running around the trees, followed by the Sheriff who was keeping an eye on something over his shoulder and Derek realized it was the Argent family fighting with each other. As long they were fighting they weren’t getting in the way of what he wanted.

“Where’s my son?!” the Sheriff demanded, pointing the gun down at Peter who laughed and for the first-time Derek realized how unhinged his uncle sounded. He probably had memories of the man in the past month and a half since his sister died but right now this was all he could remember and it was enough to know that Peter couldn’t be the Alpha, he couldn’t help the teenagers that he turned and he was dangerous.

Peter continued to laugh and the Sheriff pointed the gun down at Peter’s stomach and pulled the trigger. Derek flinched as Peter flailed and screamed before he looked up at the older man. “Sir?”

“No, Derek! I’m done, 100% done with all of this! I want my son back and I want him now! If this is the guy who took him then I am going to shoot him full of holes until he does exactly what you say. And by the way, I heard that silver can hurt you if it’s left in the body and half the bullets in this gun are made with silver. Do you want to find out which is which?”

“Whoa!” Scott said just as the Sheriff pulled the trigger again and shoots Peter’s shoulder, Derek barely having time to get out of the way and the way Peter screamed the beta werewolf had to guess that the man wasn’t bluffing about the silver.

He turned back to his uncle and squeezed his throat a little tighter before getting close and whispering in his ear, “Do you want to keep going Uncle Peter. Give me back what you took!”

Peter nodded, “Okay,” he panted, “Stop shooting me! How dare you treat me like this!”

“How dare I?” Derek snarled.

“Stop talking about this and give me my son back!” the Sheriff snapped as he cocked his gun again. Derek held his hand up to stave off another gun shot.

Peter reached out, snapped out his claws and quickly dug them into the back of Derek’s neck and everything that happened in the last couple of months came rushing back. He saw his sister’s body, and when Scott and Stiles first showed up in the Preserve, the wolfsbane bullet, the train depot and on and on, there was Stiles every step of the way and Derek felt when the tears started to slip down his cheek because when the Sheriff told him earlier to find Stiles he’d felt something but it had just been confusing. Now he got it.

Stiles is his anchor and he just got it back.

The claws slipped away and he pushed Peter back down into the ground and pulled his claws back. Scott whimpered and the Sheriff said nothing while Peter spoke, “You said you wouldn’t kill me!”

“You can’t be an alpha, you don’t deserve to be the alpha after what you did,” Derek said and he started to swing downward when he heard the scream.

“Stiles,” he whispered because there was no reason he should know that sound but his pack bond called out and led him in the right direction. He dragged his uncle off the ground and started pulling him back towards the Hale house, surprised that Peter had dared to bring Stiles back there in the first place. It was a central location but he didn’t care anymore. They were so close and as they got closer to the house he transferred Peter to Scott, turned enough to get enough power and punched the injured alpha and he slumped into Scott’s arms while the Sheriff cuffed him and Derek figured he would be back before Peter woke up. Then he turned back and ran to the house and listened as the sobs and whimpers got quieter and weaker and shifted into his beta form long enough to lead him up and into the living room of the structure and there in the floor was a wooden box.

“Stiles?” he whispered, feeling nauseous as he realized where the moans and cries were coming from. He rushed over to the box and ripped open the lid, using a burst of strength he didn’t even know he was capable of. Inside Stiles was still and his color was all wrong, starbursts of startling blue and black with fresh blood everywhere and the rest of his skin was blanched like he was dying.

He reached into the box and brought him out gently, cupping the back of the teenager’s neck. He breathed in the scent of pain, terror and sadness and sickness but underneath all of it was the tart scent of his pack-mate, his anchor. He heard when the others came up behind him and the Sheriff came up next to him and shook as he took his son into his arms.

“Stiles, come on son, stay with me.”

Derek took a deep breath even as he listened to the rhythm of Stiles’s heartbeat. It was there but weak and his breathing was erratic. Derek wrapped a hand around Stiles’s wrist and started pulling the pain from him, trying not to wince because it was intense. He took a deep breath and continued seeping his pain away. “We need to get him to the hospital,” Derek whispered gently to the sheriff and he nodded.

They turned around to find Scott still standing over an unconscious Peter, Chris was trying to drag Allison away from Scott and Kate was nowhere to be found. Derek looked back to Stiles and the Sheriff and he wanted desperately to go with them to the hospital, to not let Stiles out of his sight ever again but he couldn’t let Peter go. He needed something before Peter was going anywhere.

“Sir, can we borrow that gun of yours?” Derek asked.

“Don’t bother, I have one with wolfsbane bullets,” Chris stated “And I am not letting that alpha out of my sight.”

 Derek nodded, leaned in close to Stiles and pressed his cheek to the side of the teenager’s head, scent-marking him and taking a little comfort in knowing that he was with his father before he walked back outside to where Peter was struggling to his feet, the cuffs were going to be easy to break but it was enough to slow his ascent. Long enough for Chris to take aim and shoot Peter in the other shoulder and he screamed. Derek held up his hand even while the Sheriff’s scent filtered through to Derek, it was still mostly fear and relief but now there was shame and something else. He wouldn’t actively protest what they were doing to the alpha but he believed in justice and the law. Derek wished again that the man didn’t have to add this even to those from their past. Without the supernatural aspect to this, he’d just watched someone shoot another man without proof of guilt, he’d shot the same man tonight for the sake of finding his son but now that Stiles was in his arms, Derek felt like he was bathing in the scent of guilt but he knew this was going to get worse before it got better anyway. He shoved Peter back onto the ground and jumped over his chest and punched him three times in quick succession while the man coughed and groaned.

“Stop it!”

“Then will me the power and you get to live out the rest of your life in a cell, one that I am sure the Argent’s will be able to reinforce.”

“You dear nephew, think you have what it takes to be an alpha?”

Derek took a deep breath before he answered honestly, “No I don’t but the Hale line will have an alpha, I will have the pack you made against their will to work with me, we can learn together. I’ll have allies here and the Hale’s will be in Beacon Hills once more where we belong.”

Chris coughed and Derek turned to glare at him, “You don’t get a say, I have not done harm to others, I have only lived in peace. It was your sister that destroyed all that, or do we need a verbal reminder of what she did?”

Argent shook his head but he was still glaring, Derek didn’t care as long as he wasn’t talking. “I don’t have the training to be an alpha but I do have one thing you could never have.”

“What’s that?” Peter sneered though it was less impressive since he was still wincing, panting from the pain from the wounds in his body, they would have to remove the silver bullets and the wolfsbane would have to be neutralized like Stiles did for Derek weeks ago. Had it really only been about three weeks ago?

“A desire to build a pack, one based on consent and desire and something like what we were before the fire.”

“You think I don’t want that?” Peter wheezed.

Derek shook his head, “You wanted revenge, you’ve had enough. It’s time to stop.”

“She’s still alive, she has to pay! After what she did to you and your precious human, I figured you would want her dead even more than me!”

“You don’t get to play the higher ground card when it comes to Stiles!” Derek hissed then looked over at Chris and whispered, “She will.” Chris said nothing but Derek could hear the skip in his heart beat, the shame in his scent was noxious, he knew what his sister deserved for the actions she’d taken against a young boy and his family.

“You’re not strong enough to be an alpha,” Peter said as Derek leaned down and pressed both of his clawed hands into his uncle’s throat.

“I’ll learn. I’m sorry we weren’t here for you, that I had to leave and Laura took me. If I stayed I would have been destroyed by what happened to us but we should have found a way back. I was just as devastated as you were by everything and it doesn’t absolve you of what you’ve done. Now _will me_ the power of the alpha.”

Peter took a deep breath, winced from the multiple burning holes in his body then closed his eyes for another minute. When he opened them again and they were red, he was glaring up at Derek. The beta knew his eyes shifted as well, shining back down in cold stoic understanding that this was going to happen. Derek had never known what this would be like, what the experience would be like because Laura was always supposed to be the alpha, not him. He also knew this kind of voluntary transition was a strength of will on both sides sometimes. He _needed_ to be the alpha, the others needed an alpha and he was the only one right now. Peter needed to let go of the power to survive. And Derek _needed_ to do something to save the legacy of his family’s name.

After another moment of the intense staring, he felt something. There was a building strength in the center of Derek’s chest, it was like sunlight that was gathering power as it sat there. He didn’t know how else to describe it, the power was magnificent and he couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to take it through death and destruction. He didn’t want something so tainted, Derek had never wanted to kill someone and when he’d killed Paige that had been it. His eyes turned blue that day but now he felt when they changed again and took a deep jarring breath as Peter’s eyes turned to blue and they both released the hold they had on the other. Derek stumbled away from his weakened uncle, “Get him to Deaton, the doctor will have some theories on how to hold him plus he can pull the bullets. Argent, we are going to need one of those bullets thank you.”

“Now hang on a second here!” one of the Argent lackeys blustered but Chris was already throwing one of the bullets over to Derek and he passed it off to Scott. The teenager would undoubtedly need to have a come to Jesus talk with his boss anyway, it might as well happen now.

“If you find Kate, I can’t stop what you’re going to do to her. I won’t stop her from leaving though.” Chris was calm as he turned to his daughter, the words might as well have been about the weather but Derek nodded even though he wasn’t watching.

“Come home Allison,” the father demanded as she moved closer to Scott and took his hand. They both looked confused and scared but they were both there and in control, thankfully.

“I am staying here until Stiles gets to the hospital. I’ll come home when we know he’s going to be okay.”

Derek stared in surprise when the hunter-father just nodded and kept on walking. Derek looked over at Allison and Scott, “You two go to Deaton with Peter, then come to the hospital. Allison, will you contact Lydia and Jackson and let them know where we are heading.”

She nodded then they were slinging Peter up and between them for the trek back through the woods. Derek watched them then turned back to where the Sheriff was still holding Stiles’s head close to his chest and the rest of the teen’s body was cramped into the man’s lap. The new alpha walked over and held out a hand in gentle reassurance though he didn’t touch either one of them.

“Sheriff?” he whispered.

“Someone’s coming for us, an ambulance. I can’t believe I shot him—twice! I should be getting arrested right now!”

Derek kneeled down in front of the father, “No, you don’t need to do that to yourself. You said that you didn’t trust my mother because it appeared that everyone did what they did and there had never been any repercussions, well sometimes that happens—or the wrong people get punished all together. This is the world I have lived in my whole life, sometimes justice doesn’t look the way we want it too. I want Kate dead and buried in the ground but now she’s nowhere to be found. We have no idea what she knows so we should get to her sooner rather than later but the truth is that unlike what the hunters want you to think, we’re not monsters or killers. I probably could have gone after her or even let Peter go and allowed him to take care of her but I don’t believe revenge for the dead is more important than the living Neither one of them were worth letting Stiles be alone anymore, I want Peter to get help so I don’t want him to die but werewolves require a lot more than a metal cage. Deaton will help us, my mother trusted him.”

“So did Claude,” Stilinski whispered.

Derek frowned, “Stiles’s mom knew Deaton?” he asked.

“She talked about him a lot, had a lot of respect for him and he was teaching her things though she would never say anything more than the ‘tools of the trade’ or something like that. I was glad she was getting out and Stiles was out of trouble, I had been stupidly running for Sheriff both before and after she died. I had never met him but I heard a lot about Dr. Deaton.”

“Huh,” Derek said in interest, there was so much history that had lived underneath the surface of their skin. The Stilinski’s were deeply entrenched with the Hale’s and maybe it was about time that was official instead of just something that two strong and beautiful women had to hide from their families. “I can learn to be a good alpha for Scott and the others, I can make a decision to move in a different direction than Peter. I never wanted revenge, I just wanted to survive. Now I think I just want to live and my pack is here.”

The Sheriff nodded, smiling a little while Stiles shifted and moved closer to his father, bringing both men a sense of relief. The sheriff just kept running his fingers over his son’s head, scratching gently at his scalp. Derek leaned in close and pressed his lips to the top of Stiles’s head and held back the sob that desperately wanted to be released into the world. He grumbled a little in his chest, pleased by the heartbeat and the breathing even though he knew they were in for a long road of recovery.

“You still have a lot of explaining to do, he needs to know the truth about you. About your past.”

“Understood,” Derek whispered against his pack-mate’s head, kissing the pale skin under his lips before the rush of sirens were coming closer. Derek knew that they should have a story in place about what happened here though as he looked up he realized that it was just the three of them. He felt the power thrumming inside of him but there was something else, something that his mother had talked about time and time again, the bonds.

As a beta in a close werewolf pack, Derek had always felt the bonds of his siblings and pack-mates until the fire and by then only Peter and Laura were left. He’d felt when she died and had come back here. What was surprising now was that he could feel the trembling wavering bonds between himself and the betas: Scott, Allison and Jackson but also Stiles. He didn’t feel any others but it was possible they would grow over time. The pulsing strength of the strongest bond didn’t surprise Derek in the least, Stiles had wiggled into his heart and head, making himself a part of Derek’s life and now that he felt the bond pull him in even tighter, there was no way he could leave Stiles or the Sheriff right now.

“I’m going with you to the hospital, I can feel him. What happened before won’t happen again and you probably don’t care right now but we are bound to one another through pack bonds, he’s hurt and I can’t leave him.”

Stilinski glared at him and Derek wondered if he was going to have to sneak into the hospital if the man denied him then the Sheriff nodded, one short jerky nod of cautious acceptance. Derek sighed in relief that he wouldn’t have to resort to skullduggery—that was Stiles’s area of expertise.

At least now with a bond in place, something garnered and built in their time together and made stronger by the alpha powers, Derek would have a constant thrum of sensations and knowledge from Stiles’s emotional and physical wellbeing. He intended to use it to keep the teenager safer than he had been able to in the past.

He pressed another kiss to Stiles’s forehead then refocused on seeping out some of his pain. He waited while the sirens got uncomfortably loud, let the ambulance attendees take care of Stiles though when he was denied access to the back of the ambulance, the desire to flash his eyes was overwhelming.

The Sheriff halted everything with a quick, “He’s coming with.” Derek nodded gratefully as he got into the cab of the ambulance instead of the back so they could work on him. He could hear what they were doing anyway, giving him fluid and checking his stats, taking his temperature and everything. He wasn’t human so he had no idea what could have happened to Stiles’s body while he was being held against his will. There were still the healing wounds from the school, overlaid with bruises and scrapes from his misadventure but he was alive and that was what counted for the moment.

They sped through town towards the hospital and Stiles was readmitted with a police presence on his door. After all the blood tests and everything were done, the Sheriff got the low down on what Stiles was dealing with and Derek waited with bated breath for the older man to translate for him. They’d said things like emaciated, starving to death and withdrawals and he didn’t like any of it. He thought for a second about asking Stiles if he wanted to be a werewolf but he already knew the answer.

“Well?” Derek said as soon as the doctor opened the door to Stiles’s room and they walked inside. Stiles was white as the sheet tucked in around him and he was still sleeping but it looked and sounded naturally to Derek’s highly attuned senses.

“He’s struggling from coming down off of his Adderall, which caused some concerns. He hasn’t eaten or had water for the last couple of days and the doctor was concerned about some evidence of electric shock in his body but there wasn’t enough to determine if there was going to be any long term effects.

“Kate,” Derek growled harshly. Hunters had a love of Tasers; electric shock when hunting werewolves, there was no reason to believe that Peter had done such a thing. He’d just buried the teenager in a wooden box under the house.

“What I am going to do to that woman when someone finds her, you don’t even want to know!” the Sheriff snarled, so like a wolf that Derek was reminded of his dad when he was protective of his cubs. It hadn’t mattered that Derek was fifteen, when he’d discovered something or someone was trying to hurt one of his kids, he was a growling mass of wolf ready to protect them. Derek smiles, thinking that Stiles learned it from his dad and they were amazing together.

“But I might want to watch or join in,” Derek returned and Stilinski snorted. Derek continued, “Did they say something about more testing?” Derek whispered as he laid a hand over Stiles’s hand on the bed, hoping the teenager would wake up soon but it had only been a couple of hours and he needed rest—per the doctor’s instructions.

“They think that he might need to be retested for the needs of Adderall. I have been trying to stay more connected to what has been going on with him and his doctor is suggesting that we leave him off of the meds for a couple of weeks and see how he does without them. There is a possibility that he was misdiagnosed when he was younger and we both knew that he was using the Adderall for a kind of mental boost to get done with things or not think about his mom and that’s not what its supposed to be doing in the first place. He doesn’t need help focusing, he is hyper focused—it’s like he thinks he’s always out of time. I am going to do that with the doctor’s help and Stiles is just going to have to live without the boost if he isn’t getting better on it.”

Derek nodded, the one time he’d seen Stiles hopped up on something other than his Adderall hadn’t been a good experience and he didn’t really like the smell on the teenager when he was on the medication. It was hard to explain to someone who wasn’t a wolf but when the meds weren’t helping there was always this odor—unexplainable at best but Stiles had smelled like that.

He’d known drug addicts in New York with more of a grasp on the present and control over their bodies. He didn’t want to see Stiles continue on that path, it hadn’t occurred to him that Stiles’s spastic nature could in some way be in high gear because of the Adderall because he’s a werewolf and they don’t take meds for things like that, it wouldn’t have worked.

“Derek, the bottom line is that he’s going to be fine physically. I am more concerned about the emotional shit that is going to come down the wire because of what happened to him, which we won’t know the full extent of until Stiles wakes up and tells us.”

“He will,” Derek whispered as he watched Stiles’s chest rise and fall, letting the teen’s rhythm calm him a little at a time while the sight of him did the same for the Sheriff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping to have real life slow the f*** down so I can finish this!!!


	14. Decisions and Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is safe but struggling as he heals, recovering from what happened to him.
> 
> So much dialogue (thems my jam) and a lot of bedside manner from Derek and Papa Stilinski.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay again, SUPER RAW CONTENT all mistakes are mine and because of very little sleep and no time working on this. I promise if you share any oops with me I will be greatly appreciative (and I wouldn't mind some loving at the same time *wink wink*)
> 
> I would like to share that this story has PTSD, triggers and traumatic response after what happened to Stiles and left over from what happened to Derek. If this causes any sort of problems, please TAKE CARE OF YOU!!

**Chapter Fourteen: Decisions and Recovery**

Derek refused to leave Stiles’s bedside until he was awake again and he knew what had happened so about three hours into their vigil he got a call from Deaton, “I have your Uncle, his is in a Mountain Ash circle so he can’t do anymore damage. He is healing albeit slowly from the bullet wounds but you do not need to feel the pressure of making any choices about him right now. I would like to know how you were able to make him will the Alpha Power to you. That takes great strength, for you to give him life and yet take what the pack needs. It is a rare occasion that an alpha power is passed through this kind of transaction. Most intriguing.”

Derek shrugged, “He’ll tell you the same story, though probably with much larger words sneered at you so you are aware of how much you are a bug on his shoe but the Sheriff was a badass and made silver bullets, then the Argent shot him with a wolfs bane bullet.”

“I understand that part, Scott was very enthusiastic in his retelling of the tale, but even then, Peter had to willingly let go and he did.”

Derek said nothing because he didn’t have anything to say to explain this. “How is Allison and Scott?”

“They are taking a break from each other, both sitting in one of my exam rooms since they were fighting the pull of the moon. My clinic does not allow for shifting so they are taking a little nap. I will send them to the hospital as soon as they awaken.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re their leader now Derek, are you ready for that?”

Derek’s shoulder hunched, thinking about all of the awful mistakes he’s made in his life, thinking about his sisters and brothers and Laura. He thought about Peter and Kate and wondered if letting his uncle live was a ridiculous lie he was telling himself. Peter was still crazy and dangerous, there was nothing left of the man he’d once known though even that man had been reckless and uncaring.

“Derek?” Deaton asked gently, “You’re not alone. You have your betas and Stiles is there, you are not alone and if you are willing—I would be amenable to being to you what I once was to your mother, that is until you have your own emissary and I believe you will have one of your own some day.”

“Thank you, I will have to think about it and get back to you?” he said and it ended as a question because this was a man who was more powerful than he seemed, he was older than he looked and he was someone that Talia Hale trusted with not only her life but the lives of her children. It was just too bad that only one of them was still alive.

“Derek?” Deaton asked gently.

“Yeah?” he asked, scrubbing his hand over his head and making his hair stand up on end before he went back to rubbing his fingers across the skin of Stiles’s wrist and forearm.

“How is he?”

Derek looked over at the Sheriff who was watching him subtly, “He’s going to be okay.”

“Glad to hear that Alpha Hale, he will be a magnificent addition to your pack.”

“I’m not turning him, not without him asking,” Derek said proudly though he didn’t know why, maybe because the teen’s father was there and he was desperately seeking some connection or acceptance. He was already on edge with the Sheriff because the man knew the worst of him, maybe he just desperately needed the man to trust him a little. This truth was all he had. The Sheriff nodded, as if to say ‘Good boy’ but Derek listened as Deaton chuckled, the noise was bizarre coming from the quiet veterinarian/emissary.

“You know as well as I do that humans and many other creatures can be a part of a wolf pack, if it works and they are with you, it won’t matter. Do you feel him in the back of your mind, right at the base of your neck, making you look at him?”

“Yes,” Derek whispered, vulnerable in light of someone describing the intimate aspect of pack bonds so matter of factly. It wasn’t something they talked about outside of the family and personally Derek had only ever talked about it with his mother—it was even more intimate than talking about sex which for him had been openly discussed with him and his siblings. This though, it was no one’s business but Derek didn’t have anyone else to teach him. He didn’t have a father or his mother to help him with this, he didn’t even has his sister or uncle anymore.

“He’s the strongest one, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Derek hissed in annoyance, holding back the distressed plea in the back of his throat for the man to just _stop_.

“Trust it Derek and when you are able to come, Peter will be waiting for your judgement.”

“Thank you again,” Derek whispered and hung up the phone.

The Sheriff said nothing for a few minutes, just long enough for Derek to breathe a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t have to talk about this stuff with someone who already didn’t trust his family name or him specifically. He wanted to wait until Stiles was awake to defend him, Derek cringed at the incredible shame that the realization came with but it was true. Stiles had always seen the best in him and he wanted to do something about it.

He just didn’t know what that was.

“Your uncle?” the Sheriff finally spoke and Derek growled under his breath.

“He’s contained for the moment, I don’t know what to do since the jail cells in the Sheriff’s department or county aren’t equipped to hold him. I have to decide what to do with him, he’s in my territory.”

“I can go with you, support you in this decision. He hurt my son, he killed people and he has to pay. I can’t just let this go, I understand that we aren’t equipped to lock him up but someone has to be.”

Derek’s eyes widened in surprise at the offer, “You would leave Stiles?”

“Not alone, I’m not stupid.” The Sheriff gave him an incredulous look as he continued, “We can either wait until he’s ready to be moved since he might want to be there too but the other option is make sure that one of your…” he waved awkwardly as he answered, “Betas? Is that the word? One of them can stay with him.”

Derek’s eyebrow raised in respect that the man is willing to do any of this, after what he went through with the Hale’s before the fire. “Let’s see what he says when he wakes up.”

The Sheriff nodded and they went back to watching Stiles then Derek thought about what he said and groaned just as his phone jingled. He looked down at the unknown number, pretty sure he knew who it was. He answered, “Hello?”

“Did you forget about us?” Lydia screeched and Derek winced, she was apparently loud enough that the Sheriff heard too.

“Stiles is hurt, we’re at the hospital but yes I did though it was after I told Scott and Allison to come get you. I didn’t realize they hadn’t come to let you out,” he figured honesty was going to go better than lying and excuses.

“Well I am still at the bank vault and Jackson is inside whining like the LITTLE BITCH THAT HE IS,” clearly that was meant for the other nascent beta that Derek just ‘adopted’ and he smirked. “Now, someone is coming now to let us go! I am late for everything today and Jackson is getting on my nerves.”

Derek huffed, “I will get back on the phone with Scott to get you out. The school is still closed but Peter has been caught and he should be safe from the hunters but we still need to stick close and start training. This full moon is going to be the only one where we use the vault unless there is something dire happening.”

She snorted, “Clearly I don’t need to be a part of all that, leave me out of your supernatural insanity.”

Since she was going to be Lydia, Derek shifted his gaze to the Sheriff, “Can you tell Scott to go and let them out at the bank vault, he’s already ignoring my commands. This is going to go well” Lydia was still ranting in his ear about everything that had happened in the past two months while Stiles’s dad nodded and pulled out his cell phone.

“You’re right Lydia,” he finally interrupted her tirade because he didn’t know another way to make her stop.

She huffed but did stop with one final, “Well duh!”

“You can just leave Jackson and Allison on their own, I’m sure that she and Scott are going to mend all their fences easily and he’ll still see you at school and so on. You don’t need to be in this at all.”

Lydia gasped and he just _knew_ that she had a hand slapped to her chest in disbelief at his underhanded methods though he didn’t know why he even cared about the red-head, except that she might be a balm to Jackson and Allison because of their ties before the turn. Bonds that were born in humans were never going to be something powerful unless magic was a part of the situation but the friendship that the girls shared and the romantic kinship between Lydia and Jackson would only become stronger for his betas. _His betas…_ that was going to take some getting used to.

She could very well be an anchor for one of them. He would have to learn about them over the next couple of weeks, Derek thought as Lydia continued to sputter then hung up. He dropped his hand to his leg with the phone still clutched between his thumb and fingers as he thought about what he’d taken on.

He adored his mother, respected her as his mother as well as his alpha. Derek had always appreciated her kind candor, the honesty she shared with anyone and everyone. She had been a strong and supportive alpha, she taught all of them how to control their shift on the full moon. She taught them how to find anchors because in her eyes serenity and acceptance of one’s self had always been a more formidable protection then control. He remembers the anger, when he lost so much and that had been so powerful but something he could control so something like that wouldn’t happen again—it couldn’t be his fault again. He didn’t think that Allison or Jackson are going to take to being a werewolf and having an anchor like Scott had done with Allison. They both had issues and Allison was going to be a unique issue. They had amazingly ended the evening with no one who didn’t need to know that the teenaged daughter of a hunter was now a werewolf but that wasn’t going to continue without Derek stepping up his game.

And there was one little problem with that.

He didn’t have _any_ game at all.

The Sheriff cleared his throat, Derek’s gaze snapped up and over to him and he was watching the new alpha with an intense interest that Derek didn’t want. He looked much closer he was going to know more than Derek wanted him to. He was going to know that trusting his son and these other teenagers to him was going to go wrong, all manner of wrong. _Burning alive wrong._

“Derek!” Stilinski barked and the werewolf snapped back into the moment, realizing belatedly that he was panting, fast and useless breaths in and out through his nose, now that he was aware of his bed he realized that his heartbeat was hammering against his chest but he hadn’t shifted. “Calm down.”

The shock of knowing the man had read the rising panic in him so easily because he’d said his name before Derek had even started panicking, surprised Derek, “How did--?”

The Sheriff shrugged, crossing his arms and gestured towards his son, “He used to have panic attacks, sleep walk and all sorts of crazy stuff after his mother died. I have learned to attune my hearing and sight to the warning signs. It’s been a little while but I still got the skill because sometimes he still struggles.” He paused and suddenly his face creased in terror and tears shimmered in his eyes for a second, “Dammit—I need him to wake up and tell me that’s not going to start back up again.”

Derek stayed silent, he was wondering the same thing. When Paige died, so much of Derek died with her then less than a year later the bulk of his family was dead too. Then he figured since he didn’t have an answer, Derek might as well talk about what pushed him near to the edge.

“I don’t know if what I did is going to make things worse or better,” he whispered finally, unsure if he wanted the man to hear him say this, the sheriff’s opinion of him already sucked. What was it about the Stilinski’s that could get him to spill his guts to them?

“Time will tell,” the father said back.

“Are you going to ask me to leave him alone? I already lost him twice this weekend, I don’t know if I can do it again. I don’t know what this is and I don’t know what I’m doing here but I do know that he’s important to me.”

“I remember when Claude started spending time with the Hale’s, _god_ I was so upset about it even though I was working so hard and at least she and Stiles had friends, this was before Scott for the most part. When the McCall’s came into our lives, we spent a lot of time with them with the burgeoning friendship between the boys. Anyway I remember coming home more than once in the evenings or even on the weekends and finding the house dark and I missed my wife. I told her this and she changed, she cut back from spending all her time with Talia but your mom was still a big part of Claude’s life. I wish now that I hadn’t let petty jealousy make decisions for me and her.”

“Stiles said something about what you thought was happening, can I ask?”

The sheriff looked up and straight into Derek’s eyes, “I honestly thought she was cheating on me with Talia, they were so much closer than I had ever seen with any of her other friends, actually she didn’t have many friends beyond your mom and Melissa. She told me I didn’t know what I was talking about and by the time I did find out, I had already done a lot of damage and I was weak. I couldn’t apologize and mend what I’d helped to break.”

Derek sighed because it must be incredibly difficult to live without the natural senses that he was born with, “We all would have known if something was happening,” Derek said and tapped his nose. “I doubt that helps but I was honestly surprised that my mother invited someone into the Pack without the husband of that person at least understanding the complications to their relationship. Most people join packs as a family or on their own when they are single because they connect with someone within that pack. It’s rare for humans to come in and remain human for a lot of reasons.”

“She probably tried to tell me, they both did but I didn’t want to hear it. I was very against things like werewolves and vampires, sasquatch and so on. I didn’t want to believe, my wife—she was the brave and clever one. I was just the lucky bastard that got to be married to her.”

Derek nodded, “Stiles said that he remembered going over there and my mom offered her the Bite when she was diagnosed.”

The Sheriff flinched, it was a blatant shock at Derek’s words and he wished he hadn’t said anything at all. He didn’t want to make this worse for the man. “She told her no.”

“Yeah, that’s what Stiles heard. Your wife apparently only cared about you and Stiles being taken care if, she wanted you both to be in the Pack.”

“Maybe this is our chance to make amends for our mistakes. I’m not saying that I trust you but I am willing to remember that my son cares deeply about you and you care about him. I will try to remember that you didn’t do the things I saw, you were only a child. But I am not going to forget that you are still four years older than my son. He’s underage and if I find out you did anything to him, I am going to put your ass in jail! Somehow!”

Derek just stared at him for a minute then figured he should at least verify he heard the threat, “Yes sir.”

The Sheriff nodded and Derek was about to ask some pretty crucial questions like why did the man seem so convinced that Derek was going to touch his son sexually? He had some others but that one seemed to be key. Then he heard the second that Stiles’s breathing changed. His head swung over and he took a deep breath even as he reached out and grabbed Stiles’s hand.

“What?” Stilinski questioned as he rose and Derek stood up and watched as Stiles’s eyes fluttered open and he stared up at Derek in confusion. The werewolf looked over at the Sheriff and started to pull away but Stiles whimpered and tried to tighten his grip on Derek’s hand.

“Hey kiddo, how you doing?”

Stiles opened his mouth, looking from Stilinski and back to Derek. His mouth closed and opened again while he rasped out something but it was just noise without the help of his tongue and lips to form words. Stiles held his hand out so the Sheriff would hold onto it which he did without pause. He coughed and Derek could _hear_ the damage he’d done to his larynx when he was screaming in the coffin. His chest clenched at the thought of what he’d been through. Derek had no idea what to even think about that. He reached out and pressed his other hand to Stiles’s head while he whispered, “Stiles, I think you screamed yourself hoarse, so just take your time. Okay? We’re here and we aren’t going to leave you alone. Okay?”

Stiles gripped Derek’s hand, dragging it slowly up and over his chest and he flattened Derek’s hand over the teenager’s chest. Stiles’s heartrate was elevated though it was settling a little at a time. Derek left his hand over Stiles’s heart while the teenager turned to his dad.

“Dad?” he croaked though the air still wasn’t strong enough to carry the sound outwards. Then he pulled away from his father and mimed writing so the Sheriff patted through his pockets until he happened upon his notepad and a pen. Stiles mimed to sit him up on the bed so Derek reached over and helped to get him sitting up. Then he scribbled something down frantically and handed it to the Sheriff even as he kept a hold on his father’s hand and Derek’s hand stayed where it was on his chest though it was rubbing up and over his shoulder and across his neck and stomach. He made all his contact light and simple so he knew that he was safe. Derek looked over at the Sheriff and gestured, an almost mimicry of Stiles’s flailing and the teenager huffed and he smelled amused, like laughter before it happened though his face looked flat like it hadn’t gotten the memo from Stiles’s brain that he was laughing.

That worried Derek more than the blood and the silence.

“He asked, ‘How is everyone? Peter? Kate?’” Derek and the Sheriff both shared a wince and then the father spoke, “Well son that is not the best story. All of your friends are safe and alive, the other part is that both Kate and Peter are alive. We don’t know where Kate disappeared off to and Peter has been taken into Deaton’s custody until we can figure out what to do with him.”

Stiles mouthed, “Where’s Scott?”

“Scott better be doing what I asked him to do,” Derek grumbled.

The injured teenager turned and stared at him in confusion.

“I asked him to go get Lydia and Jackson from the bank where we stashed them for the night. Allison was with him though apparently they were making Deaton annoyed or something because he separated them.”

Stiles grabbed the notepad and scribbled something furiously then winced because his knuckles were still a picture of bruises and abrasions under the thin wrapping of gauze. He stared at the white coverage for a second before shoving the pad under Derek’s nose. The alpha had to pull away from Stiles to grab it and the reaction was not what he was expecting in the least.

Stiles whimpered and struggled, pulling at the bed sheets like he was trying to escape restraints and he didn’t have the strength to. He shoved at the blanket and grabbed his head like he had a headache and Derek stared in shock, “Stiles?”

“Son?” the Sheriff asked as the man’s son continued to shudder and move towards Derek’s hands even as he kept a tight grip on his father’s wrist.

Derek moved the pad to one hand and put the other back on his chest and started soothing him gently with his touch and words. “You’re not there anymore Stiles, come on back.”

The shuddering in Stiles’s body skyrocketed quickly into heavy gasping breaths that were barely reaching his lungs, and Derek could _feel_ when Stiles’s skin raised in goosebumps and he tried to crawl over and off of the bed away from them. Derek and the Sheriff worked together, Derek listening to his heart rate then tapping out a rhythm on the teenager’s chest while his dad just talked to him. There was a running commentary of all the things they were going to sit down and talk about. The Sheriff caught on quickly to a safe topic when he mentioned Stiles’s mother. Then the man just talked about her and how much the Sheriff still loved her and how much pride he’d had at being her husband and Stiles’s father.

“You are so stupid and so smart, I don’t know what to talk about first.”

“Smart,” Derek whispered because he’d seen what the teenager could do with some time and focus. He’d figured out the werewolf thing in a couple of days, he’d sought out Derek for answers he couldn’t find and he figured out that Peter was the alpha. All of which he did at the expense of himself.

“Yeah, let’s talk about the fact that you were bound and determined to learn what it meant that your best friend was a werewolf. I don’t know anything about everything but I know you stood by your friend, you stood by Derek even with me. You knew the kind of person that Scott could still be, you knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Derek deserved the respect you gave him and the chance you gave him. You are so freaking brilliant and I know you are going to make a bad ass cop someday.”

Stiles was finally calming again, though if it was because of his dad’s words or the tears he was desperately trying to keep either person in the room from noticing. Derek couldn’t help feeling the sting of tears himself, faced up against the love of a father for his son. How was he supposed to _not_ miss his father right this minute? Stiles was lucky to have his father and if the look on the teenager’s face was any indication—he knew.

He looked down the note and sighed before he spoke, “What the hell happened?”

Stiles turned a little and stared at him, waving a little in a motion that said ‘you may begin’. Though he looked like he was about the faint at any moment. Derek didn’t know if Stiles was waiting for something in particular but Derek started talking about what happened on their end. The way he woke up and found Stiles missing and they started looking for him immediately. “God Stiles, I don’t know if I should stay here in town,” he whispered and the Sheriff just kept staring at his son and pretended he didn’t hear the admission. “I just bring death and destruction to the people I care about and you are the closest thing I have to them anymore and I can’t see you hurt again. Not because of me.”

Stiles tapped Derek’s hand with his finger then patted his chest and nodded, the smell of determination and sadness permeated the room, though it was almost buried under the hospital scent and the overwhelming smell of pain on him. Stiles mouthed, “I won’t let you.”

Derek smiled a little then flashed his red eyes, “You can’t really stop me either.”

At that Stiles stared, slack jawed for a second then his face split into a smile and his whispered, “Alpha Hale.” Derek wondered for a second how the teenager knew to call him that as a respectful moniker but then again this was Stiles and the spastic nosy kid didn’t seem to do much else with his spare time than learn things.

Then after the initial shock of hearing those words, actually hearing Stiles’s broken little voice after only knowing him as this loud mouthed, sarcastic pain in the ass was enough to force Derek to his knees next to the bed, pressing his head into the hospital bed next to Stiles’s chest while he cried. Hating himself for the loss of control, everything they’d gone through for the past four days choked his ability to function. Finally.

He’d lost his anger and his control, it just wasn’t there anymore—and it left him bereft in the trauma of his family, of Laura and Peter’s part in her death. He could still _see_ his Uncle killing his sister in his mind. He felt the hand on the back of his head and another hand on his shoulder and he knew instinctively that the Sheriff had walked around the bed to put his hand on Derek in comfort and support. And they just _let him cry_ for as long as he needed and said nothing.

When he finally pulled himself together enough to slump into a nearby chair that the Sheriff had shoved even closer to the head of the bed and he saw that Stiles was asleep with another note clutched to his chest in his sleep lax fingers. The note said, ‘ _Don’t you dare leave Sourwolf’_.

Derek coughed, “Apparently, I’m an alpha that takes orders from a seventeen-year-old boy,” he grumbled but he didn’t leave either. He didn’t know when Stiles became the person he could share anything with but it seemed like that wasn’t going to change and as long as he didn’t do any bad touch things with the teenager he apparently wasn’t going to get kicked out by the father either.

“Join the club,” the Sheriff said with a tired chuckle then he waved distractedly, “Not the alpha part, just the being bossed around by the teenager part.”

 

Stiles floated to the surface again, still taking in the surroundings like he was going to open his eyes and find he was back in the underground tunnel being slowly electrocuted to death or the coffin underneath the Hale house but he felt someone’s hand holding his. He knew it was Derek, it was like he knew already the touch of the werewolf better than anyone else. Though in the last few weeks Derek Hale had been touching Stiles more than even his dad, not in the weird way or the sexual way but just because they wanted to take comfort in the pack closeness of each other. Stiles was glad that someone was in the room with him because he couldn’t scream and right now; waking up alone sounded like a horrible idea.

His eyes finally opened after a thorough inspection of his aches and pains, listening and sniffing at the room though he didn’t really smell anything because the clean sheets and hospital smells. Well there was that then there was the musky scent of the werewolf sitting next to him who probably hasn’t left since they brought Stiles into the hospital.

The Alpha werewolf.

He coughed a little, testing his voice to see if there was going to be any talking this time around. It was still really sore and the cough that inevitably came didn’t even sound like a cough, more an exhalation of air through a rattling screen. It brought everyone’s attention over to him though. His dad was standing next to his bed and Derek was there as well on the other side. Then with a real sense of coming home he noticed all the other people in the room. Scott, Allison, Lydia and Jackson were all there and it was like déjà vu all over again.

“Hey guys,” he whispered, trying not to force it.

Scott raced over to the bed and basically shoved Derek out of the way and climbed _into_ hospital bed and curled up next to Stiles, reminiscent of all those time together as kids before the world told them that boys don’t sleep in the same bed even if nothing was going on. Stiles had spent _weeks_ at the McCall house like this especially after his mom got sick and his dad was tired of Stiles living in the hospital, curled up in a ball next to Scott, and his knees pressed into his best friend’s body as a single point of contact.

Now that Scott was a werewolf, the need was back and he’d been feeding it with his connection with Allison but Stiles being taken had apparently ripped all of Scott’s walls down though he didn’t have any problem with the closeness of others after being alone with Kate and then Peter. Stiles just resettled with an arm around Scott’s shoulder then reclaimed Derek’s hand over the younger werewolf’s shoulder. Stiles watched Scott for a second but apparently, he needed the connection more than he needed to hate on Derek. Jackson was staring mulishly at the window on the other side of the bed and his jaw was clenched, Stiles smirked a little and wished he had the energy to pick on him for being here but he didn’t so he wouldn’t… for now. Allison and Lydia were holding hands and the pretty princess werewolf looked thrashed. Her hair was in a messy bun, she was incredibly pale like she’d been sick all over the place once already today She was dressed in some oversized sweater and sweatpants without makeup. Lydia apparently did the same as Jackson and showered before they came here because both populars were dressed for successful Class-A douchebagery and because Peter was a jackass Stiles was going to be stuck with the guy for-freaking-ever!

Then he looked back at Derek again and asked the one thing he needed to know, “What are you going to do about Peter? And finding Kate?”

Derek’s eyes shifted away from Stiles’s face and over to the Sheriff then back, he looked down and away like the choice to look to someone older and wiser had been a mistake or something shameful. Stiles sighed then turned to his dad.

“We are going to find Kate and put her away for everything. There is enough circumstantial evidence as well as Derek’s recording of her confession that will hold up in court. It seems like the truth has knocked the ego out of the Argent’s but they have been dogging me recently about keeping Peter alive when we know that he’s killed people.”

Stiles looked over at Derek again, “Yeah about that…I thought only through death, murder or whatever, was the only way to pass on the power of the alpha?” he was pleased that his voice only cracked a couple of times and it seemed like despite its gravelly rasp it was holding up under the pressure of conversations. Though he didn’t think that was going to last very long. He could already feel the exhaustion seeping into his mind, by way of his fingers and toes before it moved towards his chest.

Derek shrugged though he was clearly keeping track of Stiles’s health more than the Sheriff was, “It takes some doing and a lot of willpower on both sides. I was willing and I needed the power and he _needed_ to stay alive which was only going to happen if he gave it up. I am going to have to go to Deaton’s at some point and make a final decision on his punishment or whatever.”

“You can’t go Derek,” Stiles whispered, not because the other man couldn’t but because he shouldn’t have to face his last family member and pass judgement on him for his misdeeds, including the coffin fit for a seventeen-year-old boy. Stiles didn’t want to really ever be taken captive again but he kind of got it because the fire destroyed the man’s future and his love. Peter had been clever and without fear when he was younger, knowledge based from the conversations he’d had with Derek as well as just being around him and seeing the husk of what the man once was. Derek shouldn’t have to bring the hammer down on his only remaining family.

“This is my territory now and I have to do what is necessary to keep it and my pack safe. Your father and you deserve justice as much as the rest of the people in this town that Peter killed.”

“Stiles,” his father said calmly when the teenager started to protest again. Stiles’s gaze popped back over to his dad while Scott patted his chest in comfort, “I won’t let him make this decision alone. I can make it neutrally as long as I know he’s going to stay away from you.”

Stiles couldn’t help but smile at the idea of his straight-laced Sheriff father who apparently had a long history of trust issues with the Hale family but he was willing to go and stand at Derek’s back and support him. Then he narrowed his eyes and glared at his father, “Why?”

The Sheriff glared right back, “What?”

“You said that you didn’t trust him, you don’t like him or his family and so on and so forth but here you are selflessly giving up the chance to pistol whip your son’s kidnapper for the sake of someone you don’t like?”

“All fair questions,” the Sheriff responded then stopped.

“Not gonna tell me, like so many other things?” Stiles whispered though he didn’t sneer the words the not nearly unspoken concern he had about all the secrets. It had been more than a little surprising to realize that the teenager wasn’t the only one with the lies.

“That’s not a conversation either one of us are up to,” the Sheriff said with an imperious eyebrow raised. Stiles rolled his eyes in response then the doctor was rolling in and talking a mile a minute and Stiles was fading again.

It was the same for the rest of the day, doctors would swirl in and around Stiles, Derek and his dad refused to leave the room and Scott slept some next to Stiles. Time passed and he had no idea how much then someone was nudging him awake and he looked around to find everyone gone except his dad.

Before Stiles could stop himself, he jerked into a sitting position and started panting even with his Dad still holding his hand, “Where is everyone? Where’s Derek?”

The sheriff immediately started to soothe him, hand on his shoulder while he spoke, “Scott and the other went home for some real sleep, they are going to be back soon. I made Derek go and get a shower, he’s in your bathroom.”

Stiles shook his head, trying to come down from the ratcheting terror of being alone, his dad couldn’t protect him and Derek _promised_ he wouldn’t leave!

“Derek!” the sheriff called out and in some corner of his brain Stiles heard the shower turn off then the bathroom door on the other side of the private room opened and Derek was standing there in a whoosh of steam with a towel gripped around his waist as he rushed and wobbled on his damp feet and the tile then he was next to the bed with a hand wrapped around the back of Stiles’s neck.

Derek stared into Stiles’s eyes, they stayed that dark green that apparently wasn’t just green and whispered, “Stiles you need to calm down. I know you are still healing and each time this happens it’s just going to make your recovery slow down. Now you need to do this on your own because there are going to be times when I am not with you but you aren’t going to be alone for a long time.”

Something in the words brought Stiles’s panic back down to a manageable level though he wasn’t really taking in what the words meant when they were shoved together with periods and commas but it helped and that’s all that mattered.

“I woke you,” the Sheriff started gently as Stiles looked away from all the wet and gleaming skin on display and wondered if he could touch it just a little but after everything with Kate, he knew better than anyone the kind of awful reality of losing one’s right to say no. They were helping him come down by keeping their hands on him at all times but Stiles knew he was going to have to move beyond that and soon otherwise it was going to get real awkward when he went back to school.

“You woke me?” Stiles returned.

“We need to get a statement of what happened to you when you were taken by Kate Argent and then another when Peter Hale took you. We need to use it to get the charges issued.”

Stiles nodded and took a deep breath then looked over at Derek, “You should probably finish up. I don’t want to have to say all this again and I don’t think I can do this without some extra support.” What he wanted to say was that Derek’s presence made him feel strong enough to do this, that the alpha werewolf’s touch was enough to calm him and keep him centered in reality and the present. He didn’t know what it was but there was something at his stomach, pulling him towards the werewolf constantly and there was no way he knew how to describe it in a way that _didn’t_ sound romantic and sappy. The word ‘mate’ came to mind but it was something wrapped up in all sorts of romance werewolf stories and nothing like that was happening, they were friends who touched each other—a lot.

Derek nodded slowly, walked back into the bathroom but left the door cracked, something Stiles didn’t even think about asking for but was grateful all the same. The werewolf would be able to hear if he started to lose it again.

He turned to his father, “Dad, everything I’m about to say, I don’t know if I can deal with it.”

“We’ll take it slow and there is a staff psychologist on staff, Melissa already gave me her information. I just need to know what to charge them with and how quickly we might be able to get this resolved so you can get back to life as normal.”

“Normal,” Stiles scoffed, “I’m never going to be normal again.”

He heard his father’s harsh intake of breath even as the man pressed a hand to the top of his head in comfort. A few minutes later, Derek was coming out and reclaiming his seat next to the bed. Stiles hiked himself up into a upright position and started as soon as Derek reached out and took his hand between both of the alpha’s comforting grip.

It was a clinically retelling of events, something that happened to someone else. He closed his eyes for a second but couldn’t bear the darkness so he opened them again. He told them about Kate’s electricity and the touching. He told them how she dropped him to the floor and grabbed his dick and rubbed it hard because he wouldn’t rise to the occasion. The repeated taser burns were still healing on his skin and then Peter had come and taken him.

“Why wouldn’t he kill her then?” Derek whispered and Stiles shrugged.

“The only think I can think of is that at the time, controlling you and Scott was more important to him, plus I wasn’t making things easy for him.”

Then Stiles continued, being left on his own for a long time then Derek apparently found them and in a fit of insanity, Peter decided to take them back to the Hale house and he put him in a box under the floor. He slammed the nails down and Stiles tried to convince him not to leave and it didn’t matter.

“I heard mom,” Stiles whispered and heard the skrit of the pen coming to a screeching halt on his dad’s notepad.

“What?”

“I heard you too Dad, Derek too and Scott. I must have been hallucinating but it was the reason I screamed one more time,” Stiles said and he could feel himself tiring again. “And then you were there and I wasn’t alone anymore.”

With that he faded again, hoping they would both be there when he rose to the surface again.

 

Derek didn’t need a werewolf nose to scent the feelings coming off of the Sheriff, he saw it in the tight grip around his pen and the pad of paper. He could see it in the tension in his shoulder and the vibrating rage he could barely contain. But he was a werewolf so he could scent the rage and the utter pain he felt for and with his son, there was also shame that he couldn’t protect his precious son and grief—that old scent that Stiles carried with him was also there in his father and it flared to the surface when Stiles spoke about hearing his mother.

As soon as Stiles was passed out again, Derek slunk a little farther down in his chair as the father stood up and started pacing. “That was stupid, I shouldn’t have been the one to take those notes. There is no way I can be fucking impartial about this.”

Derek didn’t say anything because he didn’t think that Stiles would have told _anyone else_ other than his father and Derek.

“I should have gone after her when I had the chance,” Derek growled, his voice a low vibration in the hospital room and he shook off the itchiness he felt when his canines started to drop at the idea of Kate breaking Stiles apart a little at a time, teaching him that her touch would be preferable to being shocked continuously. He’d heard and felt the unbearable shame that Stiles was trying to hide, he blamed himself for folding and letting her touch him and he couldn’t help but think about what she’d done to him when he was younger than Stiles. She destroyed people only to kill them or leave them broken and alone.

He sighed and listened as the Sheriff wore a hole in the floor then he spoke, “Don’t you dare leave him Derek, you’re probably one of the few people in the entire world that can show him that what she did to him isn’t his fault. I know what I said but him being okay is more important than anything I have to say.”

“What?” Derek husked, so surprised he didn’t even know what to think.

“I was on the phone with you when you handed Chris Argent your ultimatum about finding Peter and Stiles. The ultimatum that included the recording you have of Kate. I can guess from the recording you played what she did to you. It wasn’t your fault and it’s not Stiles’s fault but he thinks it’s his fault for giving in. He let her do that to him because she gave him a choice. What a fucking choice! Between sexual assault and torture!”

Stiles shifted on the bed at his father’s anger and Derek soothed him with a hand rubbing circles into the teenager’s chest. “Sir?”

“Look Derek, he trusts you, more than he trusts me right now. You can get through to him, just please try?”

Derek’s heart stuttered a little when the man said his name and it wasn’t full of hatred or distrust, just need. It was just a father who would do what he had to so his son would be safe and he would be able to get through what happened to him. So the alpha nodded because right now he would do anything for the one person who seemed determined to see Derek happy in this life and that person’s father.

He leaned back a little bit and pulled out his phone, he checked the time before he dialed but was pleased to see it was still early evening. Deaton picked up on the second ring, “Derek.”

“Listen, I don’t get to make this call on my own but Stiles is going to need some help. He was affected greatly by Kate and by Peter when he was under their control, do you know someone who he could talk to without worrying about outing the supernatural?” Derek looked up at the Sheriff and he was nodding.

Deaton was quiet for a second and Derek whispered, “I can’t be the only one he speaks to, she fucked me up too.”

He nodded and gestured towards the phone just as Deaton started talking, “Derek, as you know there is an infrastructure for those effected by the supernatural community, same as there is when new alphas rise or new powers are recognized. I will make some calls to transfer this to the best part of the structure but you know that young Stilinski is always welcome here.”

“I don’t know how much he’s going to want to share with anyone else,” Derek whispered though he didn’t know how much he could really say. This wasn’t just his story, he’d never gotten help for what Kate did to him. He hadn’t felt like he deserved the absolution of therapy but Stiles was innocent, just to clever for his own good.

“We’ll figure this out okay Derek? For both of you.”

“Hey now, no one said anything about me!” Derek hissed out.

“Alpha Hale,” Deaton said calmly and the alpha couldn’t stop his back from straightening under the call of the title. “Do you want to be a good alpha?”

“Of course,” Derek snarled and the Sheriff stepped over to him but Derek jerked back from the concern in the man’s face and the confusion in his scent.

“Then it’s time for you to let go of the things that happened in your past, you use it to be compassionate, not closed off. I know that being on your own is all you’ve had since your family was killed, that’s not going to work anymore. It’s time for you to talk to someone as well, it’s the best way to help Stiles and the rest of your pack.”

Derek shuddered at the thought of talking to someone about what happened to him, of sharing the shame of what he did. He couldn’t handle it but when he looked down at Stiles, sleeping on his hospital bed with yellowing bruises and scrapes and cuts. If it meant being a better alpha, someone that could protect these teenagers, teach the nascent wolves to be strong and brave; he desperately wanted to be the kind of alpha his mother could be proud of.

“Okay,” Derek gritted out and tightened his grip on Stiles’s wrist for a second. He could do this—for Stiles and the others.

“Good, I’m glad to know that you want to be a good leader to these kids. Scott could be a great beta, he’s going to make a strong werewolf but you aren’t going to be able to continue to strong arm him. You are going to have to learn as your mother did oh so well, to read your betas and figure out how to reach them. Ask him about his father when you have a moment Derek.”

With that, the sound of the dial tone sounded and Derek pulled the phone away to stare at him in credulity, “I don’t like that guy sometimes.”

The Sheriff chuckled, “Yeah he is a unique beautiful snowflake, isn’t he?”

“Did you mean it when you said you would go with me and support me with Peter?”

“Yes,” the Sheriff intoned flatly as he looked over his notes again, “I want him punished for what he did to Stiles and the people in my town, I also understand that he’s powerful even without the powers of the alpha. He’s also crazy.”

Derek frowned when the Sheriff all of a sudden perked up and started making some notes on a new sheet of paper. “What did you just figure out?”

“Huh? What?”

Derek gestured over at the man with his free hand, “You have all the same mannerisms of Stiles when he’s figured something out.”

The man looked over at his son and smiled, “Yeah he didn’t get everything from Claude, he’s a pain in the ass but he’s my pain, I wouldn’t have him any other way. Look what if there was another option, something that could contain him despite his werewolf abilities, and it would be a punishment all the same. It would be fitting especially since we can get him diagnosed mentally unhinged. We can send him to Eichen House. They had a special unit in their building, something much like isolation.”

Derek thought about that, wondering what his mother and Deaton had said about the place. It was just another part of the infrastructure that the veterinarian had mentioned on the phone but he couldn’t think of it. “It’s a possibility.”

“I just need to know that he’s never going to touch my son again. I won’t be shooting him in the shoulder next time.”

“Understood,” Derek whispered.

“I need to go and get Stiles’s statement into the system, I am going to charge Peter Hale with kidnapping and murder. I am going to charge Kate Argent with kidnapping as well as rape of a minor and sexual assault on another not to mention the other murders from the fire. I am going to need a copy of the recording on your phone.”

Derek gulped then handed his phone over to the man, “I am going to need that back. It’s—important to me.”

The sheriff nodded and turned towards the door then paused before he turned back to look down at his son, “You’re going to stay with him?”

Derek nodded, “Not going anywhere, not unless he tells me to and then it’s just going to be a chair outside of this room after Scott gets here so he’s not alone.”

“Good, I’m glad,” the Sheriff said, “I’m gonna be back as soon as I can be and you can use this if you need to.” The Sheriff handed another phone over and Derek knew it belonged to before he touched it, the scent from the teenager’s hands were all over the surface and seeping outward from the little device. It was clear that the owner didn’t go anywhere without it.

“Stiles’s phone?”

The father nodded, “He’ll want it sometime soon anyway.” Then the man walked out of the room, leaving Derek alone with the unconscious Stiles. Derek leaned forward and pressed his chin into the side of the bed and pressed his cheek into Stiles’s lax knuckles gently. He could feel the life pulsing under the surface but the fact that he was so still just made every part of this wrong. Derek wondered all of a sudden if Stiles was normally still when he slept or did he scramble around and flop out all akimbo. Some tiny little confused part of Derek’s brain wondered and wanted to know and figured now he never would because Stiles—the Stiles that Derek befriended would be forever changed by what Kate did to him. She took something that should have been sweet and sweaty for a seventeen year old boy and turned it into something disgusting and broken.

At least Derek had Paige, even for a short time, so that he knew that every person wasn’t like Kate. He hadn’t known enough to fight back, to end it when she made him believe he needed and wanted only her but Stiles was innocent and now that innocence was gone and it would never be reclaimed.

Derek only hoped that Stiles would listen to whatever help he could get, either from Derek or some outside source. Derek had always known about the supernatural infrastructure to help, defend and protect people within and outside the supernatural world but because he’d been a part of a large pack, they had been pretty sheltered from those institutions but that was all over, now he would need them for Stiles but also for Scott and Jackson and Allison who had all been bitten without consent. It was on par with what Kate did to Stiles, it was assault and Derek knew they were all going to need support and Derek wasn’t going to know what to do all the time.

Where had they been when Laura and Derek had needed them? Not that it mattered, because he’d been so young someone could have walked right up to him and offered help and he would have just kept on walking.

“Hey Sourwolf, why the long face?” Stiles whispered from somewhere over his head and he snapped up a little to see Stiles staring down at him sleepily.

“Hey, you barely slept at all, you should try and get some more rest.”

“I will, well I’ll try anyway. Sleeping, the darkness is like the coffin all over again.”

Derek pressed his nose into Stiles’s knuckles and rubbed a little in between the hard bone and the soft tissue, trying to offer some physical comfort. Stiles smiled a little and held his hand up a little so Derek could press his jaw and cheek into the teenager’s open palm.

“Where’s my dad?”

“Dropping the justice hammer on Peter and Kate.”

“Go Dad,” Stiles husked though his eyes shuttered at the mention of his two kidnappers. “How’s he taking all this?”

Derek shrugged and pressed his nose into the space between Stiles’s thumb and fingers and breathed in the scent of Stiles and hospital, thankfully the teenager didn’t say anything about it, “I think he’s scared, confused and ashamed that he couldn’t protect you from this. He wants to do things to people he has never wanted to do before and he’s struggling with his own desire for violence even when he wants to be the paragon of justice that a sheriff should be.”

“He didn’t tell you any of that,” Stiles whispered.

Derek shook his head, careful to not dislodge their physical touch in the process, “He didn’t have to. It’s all over his face and his scent.”

“I’m surprised he left you here alone with me,” Stiles stated after a moment of easy silence.

“I have to keep my promise to him and tell you some things about my past, things that he kind of knows about and they are part of the reason why he mistrusts the Hales. I want you to know because if you are going to be a part of my pack, I need you to really know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Are you going to tell the others?” Stiles asked.

Derek reared back at that, “Do you think I should?” he gulped due to the immediate terror of telling these new betas what can happen and what was his fault. How could they possibly trust him? How could Stiles possibly trust him when he finally knew everything? The truth would just leave him alone once more.

“Derek, I’m not going to stop being in your pack, no matter what you tell me so take a wolfy chill pill and tell me. I won’t tell them and I don’t think you need to either. I am just surprised if you think it’s going to make that much of a difference, why you’re telling me.”

“Because I made a promise to your father, and after all the chances you gave me, this is my turn to give you something that no one else has had since my mother was alive. The truth about what happened even before the fire.”

Stiles nodded and resettled himself on his pillows and gestured with his other hand, “Well please begin.”

Derek chuckled, surprising himself and Stiles with the sound if his face was any indication, “You want me to tell you now?”

“Why not?”

“What if you want me to leave and I can’t leave you alone. I promised your dad I wouldn’t let you be alone. I could call Scott before I start just in case.”

Stiles just rolled his eyes heavenward as if he was asking for divine intervention in the name of his werewolf friend, “There’s no need for any of that! Just tell me the story, you annoying self-deprecating werewolf.”

Derek took a deep breath and spoke, “Her name was Paige Krasikeva and she played the cello. She was a beautiful musician.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter might be considered quite OOC for Derek, Papa Stilinski, Scott and Stiles but I am not going to tag for it because I don't think that these people really respond to life in the show like someone would in real life after traumatic events so I calls it as I sees it. 
> 
> Also in the case of Scott specifically, I am trying to build scent-marking, pack cuddles and close contact into this universe, something I believe in whole-heartedly in the werewolf mythology but no one ever really touch on in the tv show because who knows.......
> 
> I hope you liked it and seriously we are closing in on the resolution part of this first story. Thanks a million for all the comments and kudos, they mean EVERYTHING to me!!!


	15. I Shall Neither Run From or Hide the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek keeps his promise to the Sheriff, telling Stiles all about his first love and what became of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter and this baby is done, thank you all so much for being on this journey with me. 
> 
> There will be a sequel, the plan is to have it follow some of the basic storylines of the second season but obviously with the changes, things are going to be different.

Stiles sat and listened for a long time while Derek described his first love, dark hair and freckles. She was a smart ass and didn’t deal with his shit for nothing. Maybe he had a type, Stiles thought as his breath caught a little. Paige was a talented young lady, someone who the fifteen year old Derek had taken one look at and when she didn’t immediately fall all over herself for him he’d been intrigued.

Derek was, of course, a smarmy charismatic jerk before this, someone who had easily used his werewolf abilities to find a topic to talk with her about just like Scott had been like in the beginning with Allison and Stiles wished he’d known him back then. Though he didn’t think they would have ever been more than a couple of strangers if they had met before now, Stiles was nothing more than a blip on the popular radar and he was only there because of Scott’s sudden rise in the ranks. Stiles didn’t really care about the popularity like Scott seemed to but if it had meant getting to be around Derek he might have cared a little more.

The werewolf told Stiles about how much he loved her and thought about her, wanting to tell her everything then enter the scoundrel. Peter, apparently more than capable of manipulation and convinced Derek that Paige would never love him if she wasn’t a werewolf. Derek, being impressionable youth that he was, listened and Peter asked one of the visiting alphas to bite Paige and turn her, Ennis had recently lost one of his pack members so the desire to turn another had made Ennis agree as long as it would put him in good standing with Talia. Giving her son what he wanted would surely help his case with the Hale alpha. Stiles didn’t have to be a werewolf to hear how much Derek blamed himself for everything that and as he knew, this event had left him wide open to Kate’s abuse. He just tightened his hand over Derek’s hand as the werewolf continued to talk.

Even though there were key things in Derek’s story that he was desperate to argue with, Stiles refused to speak, to interrupt the flow of truth slipping through the jaws of fear as the beta trembled his way through telling his pack-mate about deciding that he didn’t want to go through with it, finding her already bitten and taking her into the root cellar and sitting with her as her body denied the Bite, black muck coming from her nose and the corner of her lips. He took her pain and it was never enough because there was just more and more. When she told him that she knew what he was and she loved him and all of this had been for nothing because she didn’t care.

Stiles tightened his grip on Derek’s hand and the werewolf looked down in surprise, like he’d forgotten that they were touching then he sighed and looked up and into Stiles’s gaze and held it.

“She asked me to end it for her.”

Stiles nodded and kept gripping Derek’s hand even as he wrapped the other hand over the top, he figured there was a chance that the alpha was going to pull away both physically and emotionally and he didn’t want that.

“I did it, your father knows that she died because of something to do with my family and what we are, my mother asked him to hide the truth, even from Paige’s parents who deserved the truth. There was also all this other stuff going on at the same time which is why I had an alpha besides my mother in the first place. Consent is very important to me Stiles, for more than a few reasons but Paige—she’s the biggest reason.”

“I know Derek,” Stiles whispered.

The alpha fell silent for a moment then took a deep breath, “It wasn’t much later when Kate bumped into me and I was weak. She was nice, sexy and playful, she smelled so good. I thought I just wanted her but I can’t do just sex and I wanted to love her. I fell for her, for the story she was telling me and obviously one of her trainings was to lie without her heart skipping out of the normal rythym because I never knew when she was lying. Then, when we had sex for the first time,” he paused and Stiles shook his head a little.

“You don’t have to say anything else Derek, this isn’t my story and I don’t need it. This changes nothing for me.”

Derek sighed, shuddering slightly, “Stiles, I need to tell someone because I have been living with it on my own for so long. Please—after we had sex for the first time, every time we were every together after that she would constantly tell me what I was doing wrong, that I was worthless and after watching Paige die I figured she was right. I do know one thing: Kate isn’t capable of love, she destroyed me a little at a time and sex just became this thing that she wanted and I didn’t know how else to make her love me. When we were having sex, I was alright but the second it was over, I was never good enough to really love.”

Stiles tugged Derek’s hand closer and the werewolf just scooted his chair a little closer to the bed without even pausing to think about what he was doing and Stiles cheered a little in his head because no matter what Derek believed about himself and others, he trusted Stiles enough to let him be close and he was never going to use that to hurt him if he could help it. “Derek,” Stiles whispered after a moment because he _had_ to say _something_.

“I am saying this because I want you to know that what she did to you, I won’t let it live in you and fester the way she did to me because I couldn’t let anyone in. I refused to share that secret of what she did to me, even with Laura and all it did was keep me from ever moving on. I don’t want that for you.”

“I don’t want that for you either,” Stiles whispered hoarsely.

“So we work on it together? Do whatever it takes to get better, for me to be a good alpha and for you to be okay.”

Stiles’s eyes narrowed, “I can be a good beta,” then he winked and Derek smirked.

“You’re not going to be just a beta, you never could be.”

“Why do you say that?” Stiles asked gently.

Derek paused and he was really thinking, trying to figure out what he was trying to say, “Because you are the link in the chain for the betas. I need you to be more than just my beta. I need you to be my partner, help me teach them and help me to build trust between all of us. It’s going to take a lot of work. There is too much confusion and distrust built up already between each of them and myself.”

“You can do it Derek, you wanted to find a way to protect the Hale name and not kill your remaining family member and you did that. _You_ did that, not me or my father or Chris or Scott. You are going to be an amazing alpha but you’re not going to do it alone—not if I can help it.”

Derek smiled and Stiles’s heart skipped a beat then the rhythm picked up for a second and he knew that the werewolf would be able to hear it but he mostly didn’t care anymore. The boundaries were up to Derek and thankfully physical contact was something they both seemed to crave after the kidnapping and shitty full moon spent in anxiety. “Thank you for listening and not deciding that my past made me unsalvageable or something.”

Stiles snorted, “I would never Derek. You have a backstory that any villain would be jealous of and yet you did everything you could to help us, to help Scott. I have never known someone so determined to be good. You deserve good things Derek and I am going to spend some of my copious amounts of free time making sure that you got it.”

Derek snorted, “When do you have free time again?”

“Hey now, I seem to be doing just fine right now on that mark,” Stiles said with a ridiculous waggle of his eyebrows so Derek would keep smiling. He did for another minute then his face fell and Stiles turned just as his dad walked back into the hospital room. The wary Sheriff caught sight of their still joined hands and Stiles dared his father with his judging eyes to say something about it.

He didn’t.

The sheriff just leaned over his son and pressed a kiss to his forehead as his hand gently squeezed on Stiles’s shoulder, “How you feeling kiddo?”

“Derek told me what you wanted him to, I’m not going to make him leave. Are you?” Stiles asked, going for the much exalted though rarely used in the Stilinski house straight forward approach. Stiles doesn’t know if he’d ever really been that direct with his father despite their mostly okay relationship. He didn’t really want to think about that now though not when the man was glaring at him probably because he’d wanted to have this conversation behind closed doors without Derek there.

“Stiles, you can’t make him decide now. You don’t know the whole story.”

The injured teenager just snapped his gaze over to Derek then winced at the motion before he told him with laser intensity, “You don’t know everything about me. You don’t know everything about Scott or Allison or for the love of _god_ , Jackson but you aren’t going to just leave us here to suffer and muddle through, are you?”

Derek shook his head mostly because he didn’t want to know what would happen if he didn’t answer the teenager as quickly as possible. Stiles was a little intimidating like this, something he’d really only seen when the spastic teenager was on a mission of educating himself on whatever the topic of the hour was. He apparently couldn’t stop the way his wolf howled at the sight, the way his skin prickled a little and he wanted to hold Stiles close and turn him towards their enemies because he was fierce and protective and he was beautiful.

Stiles turned back to his dad, “Would you ask me to give up on him? Would you ask him to give up on me because of what I did when I was under Kate’s expert torturous hands? Or at the mercy of Peter and his delusions because that’s what you would be asking me to do to Derek. He was tricked by Peter and left to deal with the consequences alone, he was seduced and raped!” Both the sheriff and Derek flinched at the word but they didn’t turn away, “By Kate and he was left alone to deal with it in the aftermath of the destruction of his home and family. None of that changes how I feel about him.”

The Sheriff gulped a little and asked though his voice was barely strong enough to carry in the quiet room, “And do you know what that is, Stiles?”

Stiles just gaped for a second, “What… what is?”

“Your feelings about him?” his dad asked even though he looked like he would rather stab himself in the face than hear the answer.

Stiles couldn’t stop the surge of everything he felt for Derek and all the confusion it caused for both him and the werewolf for the past couple of weeks. He felt safe when Derek was around, he was one of the few people who just let him babble on when he was learning about something new and Stiles was bursting with new knowledge. And actually listened and remembered enough of it to have a conversation about it later. He had a body that was hotter than lava and he had no idea. Derek was kind and sweet, he wanted to help them just because Scott had been bitten by his uncle. And he repeatedly had gotten up over and over again, all things that made up the deep affection, and the only reason he wasn’t thinking the big word right now was because he was seventeen years old and didn’t know enough about himself to say for sure that’s what he was feeling plus Derek wasn’t interested in him like that and Stiles would never do anything to be just some other person willing to use him to get what he wanted.

Stiles tightened his grip around Derek’s hands, scared that the emotions he was feeling would leak out all over the place and Derek would know and he would leave. He turned his gaze over to Derek and after watching as the werewolf’s feature softened and he smiled just a little Stiles realized it was too late, Derek knew and there was no use trying to hide it anyway. Thankfully he didn’t seem to be in a rush to go anywhere despite the knowledge.

“He’s pack,” Stiles finally whispered feeling choked up at the thought of the bonds that held them together and he didn’t want that to ever go away whether he was a human or a werewolf or nothing of interest at all in the grand scheme of things. And he didn’t think he was supposed to feel this much when he was so young, everyone would undoubtedly tell him he was crazy and he should go out and find some nice girl like Lydia or Allison to moon over instead of some surly alpha werewolf that had done everything to help them despite his past in this town.

Then his dad just threw his hands up with a groan before he started chuckling and Stiles couldn’t help but turn as his father’s laughter started getting more manic with each passing second. He started pacing back and forth next to the bed and Stiles wondered if that’s what he looked like when he was starting to have a panic attack. He hoped not because his dad looked crazy at the moment.

“Dad, you okay?”

“You know what son, I don’t even know anymore. I lost you a multiple times in the past couple of days and it’s like your mother all over again, I am going to lose you to this life and to the Hale family somehow so you know what, I’m not okay!”

Derek stood, awkward at the best of times but even more so now that Stiles was gripping him tightly and not letting go, Derek pressed his hand down against the side of the teenager’s head and scrubbed his scalp for a moment, “I am going to be right outside humming loudly to myself so you can have some privacy. You both deserve some time in this.”

“You’re not going to go see Peter by yourself are you?” Stiles demanded.

Derek rolled his eyes though his gaze never stopped being fond, “Did you miss the thing about me being the alpha and not you?”

Stiles snorted, telling him exactly what he thought about all that.

“Fine Stiles, I already said but I guess I need to be very specific, I am not leaving the hospital without you coming with me.”

Stiles flushed a little and turned away, abashed at the words. “Okay, thanks.” He finally released Derek’s hands though the werewolf could have easily pulled away. Stiles couldn’t help it when his hands chased after the contact and he started shaking; there must’ve been a distinct change in his scent because Derek turned around just as the Sheriff pressed a hand to his son’s shoulder.

“He’s going to be okay Derek, he’s going to have to learn how to be okay on his own again.”

The thought of _that_ , being by himself ever again terrified Stiles to the point that he struggled to his knees and grappled for Derek again, grunting when his dad caught him, holding him back. “Please don’t leave me alone!”

“Stiles!” the sheriff snapped and he crumpled back to the bed, exhausted but unable to stare while Derek watched him from the doorway looking broken and sad about all of this shit. Stiles hated that _a lot!_

“We are _not_ going to leave you alone kiddo but you need to realize that he can’t always be the one who’s with you—me neither. You are going to have to start getting back to normal.”

“Normal,” Stiles scoffed as Derek started to inch back towards the bed but the Sheriff gave a very firm shake of his head so he stopped but couldn’t seem to make himself leave as Stiles spoke again. “You think I can ever be normal again,” this time he laughed and it was so dry and humorless it hurt his throat. It sounded like a sob, a crack of disdain and disbelief masquerading as hilarity where there was none to be had.

“You can, it’s going to take some time and a lot of help but you are going to find a way to be on your own and fine. You must be okay? I couldn’t stand it if you weren’t okay.”

Stiles gripped his father’s shoulder and dragged him into another hug because he may not know how to be normal but he does know how to give his dad this comfort. He nodded to Derek to leave the room even though he didn’t want the alpha to vacate the area. This wasn’t about him for a minute, his dad needed some time and the opportunity to lose it a little in peace and privacy, or at least the physical belief of privacy since Derek would probably be able to hear everything anyway. Stiles would never deny him that. So, that’s what he did.

The sheriff just held him tightly in a hug, the strange singular sniffs like he was desperately trying not to really let all the emotions out at once went on for a while before Stiles sighed, “I get it dad, just let it go okay?”

That seemed to be all the man needed to sob and though the pain inherent in the sound was devastating to listen to Stiles was glad to be here for it. His dad was alone so much, and sure he hated the whole idea of Stiles being involved with a Hale or werewolves for that matter but maybe this would be good for all of them. After a few minutes and more than a few of his own tears flowing, they pulled away from each other and his dad resettled in his standard chair.

“Stiles, there are some things we have to talk about. Number one: the lies and secrets, those need to stop.” The teenager rolled his eyes but he knew his dad was watching and there was no way he was going to back down on that. He nodded and waited for the rest of the hammers to drop, hoping they wouldn’t strike him dead in the process. Yes he was being dramatic but his life kind of demanded dramatics. His dad didn’t make him wait for long, “Apparently, there is a chance because you have been off your Adderall for a few days now, that you don’t need them. We are going to talk to your meds doctor and have you retested.”

“Dad!” Stiles shouted, hating the idea already. He needed those pills, they kept him laser focused and intent so he didn’t have to think about anything he didn’t want to. They kept him calm and he needed calmness in his life for the love of god. Even if it was pharmaceutical calm.

“No Stiles, I know about the other drugs too, might not have been more than a couple of times but this is serious and I am not going to let you continue down that path. Not without a fight!” Stiles flinched at that, he didn’t even want to know how his dad found out, it was just another part of this whole shit-show that was his life. He nodded and the sheriff continued, “And you are going to meet with someone to talk about what happened to you.”

“Seriously Dad, I am already talking to you and Derek and even Scott about my feelings, now you want me to talk to some stranger all the while pretending that the supernatural isn’t part of the problem?”

“You know, Derek mentioned a couple of things that make me think that the supernatural community is far vaster that you or I will ever know, maybe that means someone is out there who can help you and you don’t have to hide that part of it.”

Stiles snorted though he didn’t actively argue—mostly because he knew it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. His dad sounded pretty damn serious about all of this and he figured he was getting off easy for a teenager who decided in the past two months to: 1) Abuse his prescription meds, 2) Steal and take someone else’s prescription meds, 3) End up in the hospital three times and not to be diminished by everything else 4) Get kidnapped twice in the same weekend.

He’s lucky his dad’s letting him out of the house ever again until he’s eighteen.

“Am I grounded too?” he asked, worried about the answer but not really.

The sheriff sighed and shook his head, “Honestly Stiles, would it really matter. You are part of a wolf pack and you have been through a traumatic experience. At this point separating you from the people who care about you and are watching your back to the best of their ability would only be me being cruel and trying to control something I have no ability to control.”

Stiles pressed his hand over his dad’s knuckles and tightened his grip a little at his shoulder, “I’m really sorry Dad.” He didn’t know what he was more sorry for, there was so much these days for him to be sorry about and it was going to take some time to work through all of it.

“I know you are son, but here we are and I can’t do anything about the last two months, I can’t even do anything about all the ways I screwed the pooch after your mom died but I do have some say over how we decide to move forward from this point.”

Stiles winced a little at the thought that came unbidden to him, “I’m not very good at laying all the cards on the table Dad, this is going to take some work.”

“For the both of us, but I am willing to try so you can be okay. So we can both be okay.”

“Ugh, too many feelings—feeling sicker all of a sudden,” Stiles groaned even though a part of him—a pretty significant part was pleased because it was like his mom was there with them right now. She had always been the feelings part of the duo of Stilinski parents and Stiles hadn’t known what to do when she died and he was just with his dad, who shut it all down so viciously that there had been more than one occasion in the first year after she died demanded to know if his dad even loved him or wanted him to still be around. The fear that he wasn’t wanted had led to more than one session of running away from home and wishing that Scott’s early home life, before his dad turned into a raging douche-nozzle, had been his.

“I think your mom would be proud for us being all touchy-feely with each other,” his dad whispered, choking up under the still pall of his mother’s loss even after all these years.

Stiles smiled and kept holding his dad’s hand and smiled, “Yeah Dad, I think she would.”

“Why don’t you get some sleep kiddo?”

“You’ll be here when I get up?” Stiles asked, even as he started to fade as if his dad had said the word sleep and it was dragging him under. He let it, trusting that he wasn’t going to be alone; they weren’t going to let him be taken again.

 

Noah watched as his son slept, heaved a deep sigh even as he squeezed his son’s hand and knew he was in for a wait. Stiles needed rest and they needed to give it to him in the best way any of them knew how. There was a part of him that panicked a little every time he closed his eyes and didn’t answer because all he could see was Stiles still in Derek’s arms after he pulled the lanky body out of that box that Peter put him in. All he could see was the pale skin, only marred by the angry bruises and black looking blood in the dim light of night and the slight sheen of the full moon.

He couldn’t help but see all the areas or times when all he had to do was _listen to his son_ and maybe they wouldn’t have gotten here but it wouldn’t do either one of them any good. He couldn’t change what happened, he couldn’t in good conscious remove Stiles from his friends because they were different. His son was different and he cared for Scott and Derek, Claudia would want him to accept this instead of hurling himself into the demented need to keep Stiles all to himself.

Maybe the best way for him to do that was ask Stiles about werewolves, his son could be the one to bring him into the fold where the good, bad and the ugly resided instead of just the negative that he’d seen back when that girl died.

“Noah?” Melissa called from the door and he shifted his gaze over to her and nodded at her. She walked into the room and settled into one of the other chairs, pulling it close enough so she could press a hand into his arm in comfort. “How are you?”

“As long as he’s going to get better and come out of this I am going to be fine.”

She nodded and kept her hand on him as she looked over at Stiles. She stood up and Noah watched as she leaned over his son and pressed a kiss to his forehead gently enough that he didn’t wake but enough that Stiles shifted and leaned into the touch just a little bit. Noah smiled, thinking about the last time he’d watched his wife do that and it had been so long and he wanted that for Stiles, a mother’s love and Melissa had always been there for them both. Stiles desperately needed someone who would listen to him, care about him when he found these new friends and adopted wayward betas, not to mention the alpha that was no seemingly attached to his son’s hip.

“How are you doing with all the _other_ stuff?” Melissa asked as she settled on the bed next to Stiles though very carefully so he wasn’t upset by the movement.

“I am doing about as well as I can since I knew a little bit about it before the fire happened at the Hale house. I just chose to ignore it and when the Hale’s died and the survivors moved away I just decided to live in denial. When did you find out?”

“A couple of weeks ago, I was hiding in my bedroom and Scott was talking to me through the door. I refused to open the door to my own son and Stiles came over. I let him in because if anyone was going to tell me the truth about my kid it was going to be yours. He loves Scott almost as much as I do. I listened to him talk about that night, that Stiles believed that it was his fault they were out there and what happened. Noah, he needs you. They both need us to be there for them. Even Derek.”

“Well at least I don’t have to figure this out on my own,” he whispered to his longtime friend. She squeezed her hand over his again, the one that was holding Stiles’s hand and they lapsed into silence for a few minutes.

“It will be better for them, because I’m at the hospital and you’re the Sheriff. We can protect them, we can learn about the supernatural and we can keep them out of the hands of any scientists who want to test them not to mention the hunters.”

“And who’s going to teach us?” Noah asked sarcastically, thinking about Derek especially when the young man had dropped to his knees on the other side of his son’s bed and cried. If anything Derek needed all the help he could get, he didn’t need to babysit a couple of worried parents who knew next to nothing about the supernatural world.

“I would suggest you ask your son,” someone said from the doorway and both looked over to find the vet, Dr. Deaton in the doorway with Scott standing next to him, shuffling his feet a little. Noah could see Lydia, Jackson, Allison and Derek were all there as well, waiting to be let in.

“How can you all be here when Peter is…?” he started, then swirled his hands around in an attempt to communicate the question.

“He’s been sedated with wolfsbane infused ketamine, it will take some time to work out of his system and I really wished to see for myself how young Mr. Stilinski was doing. I have been deeply concerned about him ever since he went missing.”

“Do you even know him?” Noah asked the man, frowning at the legitimate concern on the man’s otherwise stoic face. Scott had been working with the man for about a year now and before that more than a few animals had landed in Deaton’s clinic because Scott couldn’t stand to see them suffer. That was just the kind of person Scott was—or at least that’s what he was like before he’d been turned. Noah wondered if that had changed too.

“Stiles has been a helpful nuisance in my office ever since Scott started working for me. We have rules about such visits so Scott will do his work but Stiles usually just ends up helping his friend and never asking for any sort of payment or he will do his homework while Scott works. He has also been working closing with Derek over the past couple of weeks and so I have gotten to know him in that capacity as well. When he went missing I helped Derek to find a place for his betas so he and Scott could continue searching for Stiles. I am deeply entrenched in these teens’ lives all of a sudden, a change that I was not aware I was making but then again it will be worth it to see the Hale legacy continue on.”

Noah and Melissa share a look and shrug before he turned and asked, “You said ask Stiles about the supernatural?”

“Of course, your son as you are probably aware has the tenacity and the desire for knowledge. He has learned a lot in the past weeks and of course there is always those of us in the community that can help you as well.”

“Including yourself?” Noah asked.

Deaton nodded once, resolute and without any sort of actual facial expression happening.

“You will seek assistance with Stiles’s PTSD and trauma?” Deaton asked.

Noah nodded though he didn’t know why the man knew about that though Scott had been with him and probably shared what happened. The man wasn’t stupid, he would know better than the lot of them that Stiles was in for an emotional road ahead, “He can barely stand to be not in contact with someone, let alone by himself because of what they did to him. I don’t understand how they could have done so much harm in such a short period of time.”

Deaton took a step closer and pressed a hand to Noah’s shoulder, “Sometimes it only takes minutes to do harm for decades. Please take heart; I know many in the supernatural community. I have no doubt that we can find someone to speak to him, someone that he won’t have to hide any part of what happened to him, if he is willing to speak to them but I will have to share a little of what has happened in order to make the right inquiries.”

“He’ll be willing to speak with them,” Noah promised and Deaton moved around to the other side of the bed near Stiles’s feet, stopping when there was a low growl coming from Derek who was just behind Scott. Noah sighed and motioned them all inside before the door was closed and they were all standing around the bed. Noah and Melissa were still touching one of Stiles’s hand and Derek walked around to the other side and pressed a hand into the sleeping teenager’s forehead. Stiles immediately pressed into the gentle touch while Scott curled up next to Stiles in the bed again, like they were puppies in need of warmth and contact. Allison stood next to Melissa and the other couple were standing behind Deaton but close enough for everyone to have a hand on Stiles.

Stiles didn’t wake, there was a smile playing around his battered and dry lips at all the contact and Noah realized something that he’d missed in all of the time he’d been trying to run from this and take Stiles with him.

This was the beginning of a family, take the werewolves and the violence out of the equation and he was looking at the two of them plus Scott not being alone anymore. Stiles would have people around him, people fighting with and for him instead of against him and there was nothing Noah had ever wanted more, except maybe that his wife was still alive and with them.

So, if he could just take the sting of resentment and the bitter tang of fear out of the current standing then he would look around and see a bunch of misfits who were possibly all going to fit together someday if they all gave it half a chance and stuck together.

And he thought, _‘Yeah, I can stick it out for this’_.

“Pack,” Deaton whispered and everyone looked over at him.

“Pack,” Derek repeated and pressed his cheek to the side of Stiles’s face, while one of his hands pressed down onto Scott’s shoulder in comfort.

No one else said anything but at this point it wasn’t necessary. Words were just to strain the feelings and ignore the instincts of the moment. Noah didn’t have to argue the point, he had to jump on the train. It was clearly a speeding bullet of a train and there was more likely going to be times when he trips while trying to jump from track to track but for now he was at least knew why he was making the leap.

He was doing it for his son, and he was doing it to give some rest to his beloved Claudia.

 


	16. One More Formality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping with Lydia and Danny, the formal and some surprises in store!!!

Getting Stiles out of the hospital was pretty easy after all the craziness of the last time he was there especially since he’d been kidnapped and never officially released. He went back to school and he got used to the idea that no one was going to hurt him if he wasn’t being touched. He still spent most of the school day with Scott and Allison keeping their hands on him in some way. Jackson and Lydia were there to help as well, rubbing him across the shoulder at lunch or Jackson nudging him in the halls and somehow made the comforting gesture look like bullying but not a lot of people were buying it even if the guy was still a douche. And Derek was always there after school, especially since he couldn’t drive the Jeep for now, not with the still healing injuries and the hyper vigilance that tended to start panic attacks at the drop of a book or the wind whooshing from a student running down the halls or anything really. That post traumatic response was made worse by the fact that Kate was still on the loose. Derek would be leaning against the hood of the Camaro with that stupid mini smirk on his face and Stiles walked up to him every day and tucked himself close for a hug and the scent-marking that happened every time. Stiles was constantly surprised how easily he sank into the physical needs of the pack, that it was something that he wanted too. He’d never known that he wanted to be close to other people, or maybe it was just the desire to see his pack be okay no matter what.

One of the first things they did when Stiles was fit enough to leave the hospital was go over to Deaton’s clinic and Stiles walked in through the door with Scott’s assistance and he stared at the werewolf that locked him in a box in the ground of his burned-out husk of a home and met the man’s cold blue gaze.

“Peter,” Stiles whispered, his voice weak from the anxiety it raised in him to be in the same room with the man.

“Stiles, I am pleased they got to you so quickly. Really it’s a good thing they were coming to me when I left you in the box. You were safer there, I told you so.”

Stiles took a deep breath and held his hands up when his father and Derek both took a menacing step forward. “I got this guys,” he took a deep breath and stared at Peter, “Derek is here to pass judgement and decide what should be done with you, my father is here to make sure you pay for what you did to me. Do you know why I’m here?”

Peter tilted his head in question, he looked so small sitting in the circle of dust on the floor though he somehow made it look like he was there of his own accord and not because they wanted him in it. “Because you wish to see my end as well.”

Stiles shook his head, “No, I wanted to say that I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Everyone reared back at that; Peter, Derek, Deaton, his dad and Scott. Stiles nodded and continued before anyone had a chance to stop him, “I know you were not the most trustworthy person when you were younger, but I also know that you must have wanted to be better otherwise your wife would have never seen something she wanted to stay with for the rest of her life. I know you loved her the way my dad loved my mom which means that every day when she’s not there it kills you a little bit more. I don’t know what it’s like to have lost a child, even one who was not yet born but I understand that you wanted them to pay, the same way I want _Kate_ to pay for what she did to Derek and to the rest of your family but I won’t allow him to make a decision that forever scars the broken humanity that is still in him. I don’t want you to die, so how do we save you and stay safe.”

“Stiles, you can’t make this choice for him or us,” Derek whispered as he reached out and touched the teenager’s shoulder but Stiles just shook his head and looked over to Deaton.

“What about it Dr. D.? Is there someplace in Beacon Hills or even in the county that could host a werewolf and keep him out of trouble?”

“Now wait just a goddamned minute!” the sheriff shouted, all the werewolves flinching in surprise even as Stiles turned to his father with a calm expression to face down the rage in his father’s eyes. “He kidnapped my son and buried him alive. He killed multiple people in this town and I have to see this as justice, not just someone getting away with murder and the kidnapping of a child!”

Stiles sighed and kept looking at Deaton.

“Eichen House has a secondary system within the first, they initially were there to help people who have been affected by the supernatural as well as standing guard over the criminals that maybe can’t be killed or shouldn’t be killed. I can put in a call with them immediately, you should probably say goodbye now because once he goes in, it will be a year before he is offered a chance to see anyone let alone be offered anything other than solitary.”

Stiles looked back to Peter, “You deserve to be punished but I don’t think killing you is the answer. I don’t want Derek to lose anyone else, even you.”

Then he turned and walked to the back of the group, Scott turned to follow him but first he walked up to Peter and crouched down to look straight into the beta’s eyes, “I didn’t want to be turned and I don’t have the ability to go back but just hear me about this, I am going to do whatever I can to make sure that no one in this town ever gets turned without being asked first. I am going to be the best werewolf and you won’t see it because you didn’t turn me to have a pack, you turned me to have minions to make you stronger.”

Then he turned away and walked over to Stiles, wrapping a hand around his back just as the still healing teenager was starting to wobble. The Sheriff said nothing, still more than a little angry but willing to take the imprisonment as a win. He walked to the edge of the room where the boys were standing and Stiles kept his eyes on Derek who actually sat down in front of his uncle and heaved a big sigh.

“You will not counter offer? You are okay with sending me into solitary? You know that will only make me more insane. I have spent the last eight years trapped in my own body and now you wish me to return to some such cell?”

Derek pulled in a deep breath, “Uncle Peter I can’t say that I am happy or okay with any of this but I think if you ever want to be family again this is the only way that’s going to happen. I can’t have you free where you could hurt my pack or anyone else who gets in your way. I don’t want to take you out but if I have to pick between them,” Derek paused and turned to look straight at Stiles who smiled at him and winked before the alpha turned back to his captured uncle, “or you, I’m going to choose them.”

Peter grinned, it was all teeth as he motioned towards Stiles which trigged both Scott and the sheriff moved to stand in front of him. Stiles just rolled his eyes and watched Derek through the space between their bodies as Peter leaned as close as he could with the dust keeping him contained, “Don’t you mean him?”

Stiles frowned but he kept watching as Derek stiffened and took another deep breath, “No I mean them. My pack, the one you made for all the wrong reasons, I am going to keep them together and we are going to be strong.”

“And you’re doing it for him,” Peter said, seemingly just to bait Derek.

Derek didn’t seem to be willing to play though thankfully, “I am going to do it for all of them and me. But the point you are trying so desperately to make right now, I concede I only believe I can do it because he cared and he helped me to believe in myself again. I’m not alone because of him and I care about him and that’s more of an answer than you deserve and I am ending this now.”

Peter pressed a hand to the weird barrier between them and whispered something, and Scott definitely heard it because he stiffened and Derek became ramrod straight before he stumbled back a little bit and stood. He turned to Deaton, “Do it. I’m done with him.”

The veterinarian nodded and they all left the room, heading for the small waiting area. Derek walked over to Stiles who stared at the alpha werewolf and demanded, “What did he say to you?”

Derek shrugged and replaced Scott, pressing his arm around Stiles’s lower back and they all walked out of the clinic and headed home.

The other big weird moment for Stiles was that weekend before he went back to school, Lydia showed up on his doorstep with Danny standing next to her while Derek watched them from the couch in the living room like he knew what was happening. He probably did—creeper, Stiles thought with a smile as he asked, “What’s going on guys?”

“You are going shopping, we are going to find you some wardrobe that doesn’t hide your attributes and that aren’t flannel,” she said all of this with motions that did nothing to make him feel better about any of his life choices and Stiles turned to look at Derek because up until that point he hadn’t gone anywhere without the alpha by his side.

Derek scoffed, “I am not going to the mall with you guys. I don’t really want to look like a loser creeper who follows teenagers around.”

“You are a loser creeper who follows teenagers around,” Stiles snarked back and the werewolf just glared at him in response even though there wasn’t much heat behind it.

“So,” Lydia snapped her fingers, “Let’s go Stiles, we have things to do and not much time before you start feeling all of your bruises. I need to make the best use of that time.”

Stiles knew that was true and he nodded and turned to grab his wallet, keys and jacket mostly because no one in the history of Beacon Hills could say no to Lydia and that included him. Then he paused, looked at Derek again and suddenly could move any farther from him. Lydia and Danny, the people who he had always wanted to know what it was like to be one of them but he’d just gotten out of the hospital after being kidnapped, being one of the cool kids just wasn’t that impressive anymore.

He stumbled back over to the couch and slumped down next to the werewolf who just put his arm around Stiles’s shoulder and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, “You’re making the cool kids wait? You’re making Lydia Martin wait?” Derek asked in feigned shock.

“Am I allowed to say that I am freaked at the idea of going to the mall without you,” he whispered even as Lydia sighed dramatically in the open doorway, not because of what they were saying but because she was Lydia Martin and she waited for no teen.

“Stiles!” she snapped.

“You heard your father Stiles, you need to learn how to go back to living and I can’t be with you all the time. Go to the mall with your new friends, get some clothes and I will be waiting for you. I have my phone in case you need to call me and you can do this. I know you can.”

“I think you’re an idiot,” Stiles said cheerfully and Derek snorted in reply.

“No lies detected,” Derek whispered in amusement as he turned his head and pressed his nose to the side of Stiles’s head then he felt the other man’s lips press a quick kiss to his temple before Stiles stood with determination, donned his jacket and shoved his feet into his shoes before he walked out the door. The trio walked back to the car and they piled in for the short drive to the mall just outside the residential area of town. Stiles started texting with Derek and Scott, just so they knew what he was doing and where he was but even as they were driving, just the distance was enough to start the panic. He was scrubbing his hands on the legs of his pants and texted Derek that he was sure this was a mistake. He wasn’t ready for this, didn’t they understand that he was in danger. He didn’t even notice when the car came to a stop until Lydia was holding his hands in between hers and talking him down.

“Stiles, come on back. You are fine. You are not alone and no one is going to take you again. I have pepper spray and Danny can kick a whole lot of ass.”

The mention of the pepper spray reminded Stiles of the silver knife that was pressed into a sheath on the inside of his pants, it was uncomfortable but at least he wasn’t unarmed. It was enough. He looked up at Lydia, surprised by the comforting support he could see plainly in her sharp gaze. “I’m not alone,” he whispered.

“Not alone, no one is going to take you again.”

Danny was watching the whole exchange with interest though he wasn’t obvious about it. Danny along with the rest of the school knew about Stiles being kidnapped though they didn’t know the supernatural aspects of it. There had been search parties and phone trees going on in his absence, a lot of people at the hospital were in the midst of lawsuits for not taking precautions against one of their patients being drugged or kidnapped and the paper told the story about Kate. That she had kidnapped him though no one knew anything about what she did to him while she had him.

Stiles didn’t know how he felt about the fact that the whole town knew he was screwed six ways to Sunday because of it but at the same time, he was glad he didn’t have to explain why he was having a panic attack about going to the mall.

“I need Derek,” Stiles whispered desperately and Lydia grabbed his phone and dialed then pressed the phone to his ear then patiently waited until he was able to release her hand and take hold of the phone.

“Stiles,” Derek had already answered as Lydia turned around and started driving again, though Danny had reached into the backseat and took Stiles’s free hand, to which he smiled gratefully as he answered.

“Derek I am having a freaking panic attack on the way to the fucking mall! I am pretty sure this makes me pathetic!”

“Stiles,” Derek chided firmly and Danny tightened his grip on his hand at his words, “You are not pathetic, you are still healing from being taken hostage by the two psychos and dealing with trauma. Just remember this is just the first step, you are going to be okay. You’re not alone and you have your knife, right?”

Stiles nodded, “Yes.”

“When is your first session with the counselor?” Derek asked and Stiles couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He hated the idea of seeing someone and spilling his guts about any of this stuff but with the present circumstances being proof that he needed the help then Stiles was just going to have to go and do what his father asked him to do. Not to mention the man was pretty hardcore about the fact that Derek was chilling at their house because of the Sheriff’s good graces and Stiles wasn’t willing to push his father these days.

“Next Saturday, after the dance. She’s coming to the house, never heard of that before.”

“Deaton recommended her?” Derek asked.

Stiles nodded again, “Technically he called someone at Eichen House, the counseling center and they recommended someone who would hopefully help me. I don’t know if I can really talk to someone about everything.”

“You did with me,” Derek commented easily.

“Yeah because you’re you and I tell you all sorts of things you undoubtedly don’t want to know, things I shouldn’t have told _anyone_. I don’t know why you listen to me, I do know that I trust you, how can I possibly trust some stranger with all this shit?”

“Don’t start with trust,” Derek responded gruffly and Stiles wondered if he read that somewhere. It sounded far to wise for the alpha werewolf to be saying, “Start with the getting to know you and trust that this person takes their oath to help people very seriously. Okay?”

“Did you read that somewhere? Are you reading self-help books while you brood at the house by yourself?” Stiles asked and he grinned at the image of Derek hunched up on the couch in the study with a self-help book hid under his leather jacket. Stiles chuckled at the image while Derek heaved a long-suffering sigh.

“You don’t know me,” the alpha finally grumbled and Stiles didn’t know if he was telling the truth or if the werewolf was just trying to make him laugh which the teenager did.

“We’re here,” Lydia said and Stiles looked up to see they were parked in the lot and both of the populars were waiting on him. He sobered quickly, thinking about the crowded mall, the people rubbing up against him and though he hated the idea of being that close to anyone he didn’t know, the sick twisted part wanted to rub himself all over anyone who would let him, the tremors in his hands reminding him of the electricity buzzing his bones like a lawn mower on crack.

Stiles sighed and whispered, “I gotta go and try to be a normal teenager getting ready for a dance now.”

“Okay,” Derek said with a snort but waited for Stiles to say goodbye which he didn’t. “You don’t want to do this do you?”

“No,” Stiles gritted out and Lydia deflated a little like this had really been important to her. Maybe it was, she wanted him to be okay and she wanted to help with that? He’d always known she was kind underneath the cold shell and the manipulative shit, and now he didn’t even want her. Being her friend, someone she cared about enough to drop the mask would have to be enough.

“Look towards the door of the mall,” Derek said simply and Stiles did. He couldn’t help the grin when he saw Derek leaning against the wall, still on his phone and he nodded towards them in the car, having already singled them out by Lydia’s flashy perfect car. “Now you know, you’re not alone. I won’t always be there for you because you are going to beat this but I can be here now even if this is not going to be fun for me at all. You owe me big for this Stiles. .”

Stiles laughed and got out of the car and headed straight for his alpha leaving Lydia and Danny in the dust, enveloped in a quick hug as the other two joined them at a more sedate pace. They got there just in time for Stiles to pull away from Derek and the three of them walked into the mall, Stiles didn’t need Derek to be next to him for the moment because he knew the alpha was close. Apparently, that was enough for now.

They walked through the stores, Stiles found some new clothes and tried them on, all the while getting a yes or a hell no from Danny and Lydia, smiling at some of their responses when he picked a wild card outfit like a completely plaid suit that he didn’t even understand _why_ it was at the mall besides to scare hapless fashion freaks.

He found something to wear to the formal, it was enough to make him double take his own reflection so they bought that immediately. They were getting some lunch in the food court when Stiles started getting tired and he looked around, finding Derek sitting at one of the tables at the edge of the court. He smiled and turned back to see Danny staring at him curiously.

“Is Derek your boyfriend?” he asked all of a sudden.

Stiles winced because even with the clamor of the mall, Derek might be able to hear them, “No he’s—complicated but he’s not my boyfriend.”

“You asked me a while back if I found you attractive and you almost ended up on the floor when I told you my answer.”

“Yeah? And?” Stiles returned because that’s what happened real talk but he didn’t know why the other teenager was bringing it up now. Stiles tried hard not to look at Derek, nervous that he could hear them right now but he didn’t want to give the man a reason to focus on them if he wasn’t.

“Do you want to go to the winter formal with me?” he asked, smirking and Stiles frowned because right in that moment he honestly had no idea if Danny was kidding or not.

“Huh?” he returned unintelligently.

“Come on Stiles, my boyfriend just broke up with me and I am interested in maybe seeing if you are more than just Scott’s ridiculous sidekick.”

“Fuck you Danny,” Stiles said but he was laughing as his cheeks flushed at the offer on the table. “Are you really asking me out to go to the dance right now? You know I’m not the sidekick but I am a fucked in the head teenager with no attention span or an attention span so focused on the most ridiculous topics and also I have no idea if I’m really gay.”

Danny nodded, “I understand Stiles, I’m still asking.”

Stiles’s face had to be tomato red by now and he looked over where Derek was sitting and noticed the alpha was determined to not look over at them and Stiles didn’t know what to say. He wished in his heart of hearts that Derek could go with him but they weren’t there. They were close, pack-mates and Derek was his alpha but all the things he wanted for the two of them wasn’t going to happen and Danny was willing to try and maybe Stiles could see if it was just Derek or if there was more to his attraction to the male gender.

“Okay, you’re buying the tickets and you have to pick me up. I’m not allowed to drive yet,” Stiles said and shivered a little when Danny grinned and they went back to talking about movies and school which was a whole layer of not okay. Stiles wasn’t looking forward to going back to school, there had been a lot of news stories about what happened to him but also that Kate Argent was guilty of the fire as well as other crimes against Stiles and others. She was on the run and everyone knew it. Stiles and Allison had more than a couple conversations about how much it was going to suck being at the center of all this the last few days.

“Let’s get you home Stiles, before you collapse,” Lydia said and they grabbed all their bags and headed out of the food court and towards the car. Stiles grinned when he saw Derek leaning against it but he held back before looking over at the guy he just agreed to go on a date with.

“You know you want to,” Danny said and Stiles nodded before he threw himself into Derek’s arms again. He felt when Derek picked him up off the ground and he slumped into the man’s embrace because all of a sudden, he was so much more tired than he thought he’d been, putting on a front for the others.

“Thanks for coming,” Stiles whispered and pressed his forehead into the side of Derek’s head.

“Get home, your dad is there and waiting for you.”

“How do you know?” Stiles asked as his feet landed back on the ground and they moved to get into the car. Danny and Lydia were already inside and his bags were tucked into the trunk, “Are you coming back to the house?” he asked expectantly, excitedly.

“Tomorrow Stiles, it’s your dad’s turn. You promised that you would spend equal time with him as well as us in the pack.”

Stiles nodded, “Text me later?”

“I will,” Derek said with a nod then he walked away and Stiles closed the door.

“And there’s also that,” Stiles said to Danny because he hadn’t mentioned the feelings he had for Derek earlier when he was listing all the reasons Danny _shouldn’t_ want to go to the formal with him.

“It’s complicated, right?” the teenager asked.

Stiles nodded and stared off into the distance where Derek had run off to. He looked back over to Danny, knowing now that Derek couldn’t hear him anymore, “I love him you know. This is stupid. It’s wrong of me to try and make something with you when I feel what I do for him, it’s not just going to go away for me no matter what he thinks or feels.”

Danny turned around in his seat, “Okay let me level with you Stiles, I’m not trying to steal you away or get with you for the sake of getting with you. I’m still in love with my ex and maybe I want to use going to the dance with you as an opportunity to get back at him too. And maybe help you out with Derek.”

Stiles frowned, he was pretty sure that Derek wasn’t going to be swayed by that kind of manipulation and he didn’t really like the idea of using any sort of manipulation on someone who barely survived being fucked over by Kate Argent so maybe he would just go to help Danny out and he could just leave Derek out of it. He liked the idea of not being alone anyway, no matter what the real motive was.

“I’ll go with you but I won’t use it to hurt him,” Stiles responded and both the teens up front cooed at him for it though Danny did it with more than a little sarcasm. Lydia though sounded sincere and they made it back to the Stilinski residence without another panic attack. He grabbed his stuff and waved them off before he got inside the door. His dad was there, sitting at the table and working on something. Stiles dropped his bags next to the door and moved to sit down across from the sheriff.

“Hey kid,” the man said and looked up from his paperwork.

“Hey Dad, whatcha working on?”

“Paperwork for some of the recent events around town, you know I can’t share more than that.”

“Yeah Dad, I know and honestly I don’t care. So, I got asked to the winter formal,” Stiles said as he absently picked at his nail beds.

“Oh?” his dad asked as he put his pen down. “Who asked you?”

“Danny, you know the guy from the lacrosse team? He and Lydia took me shopping today and Danny asked me if he wanted to go to the dance together. I said yes.”

“Okay,” his dead said, “I gotta tell you Stiles, you don’t sound very excited.”

Stiles sighed and kept looking at the table in front of him, not even sneaking a peak at the papers closest to his line of sight. “I’m glad I get to go with my friends, all the work we did with Scott at least has him up to a C and working towards a low B so he and Allison are trying to work things out and going as something though she’s still pretty adamant that they aren’t dating. Lydia and Jackson are going together and I’m going to go with Danny.”

“But you wished someone else had asked you?” the Sheriff asked though he didn’t sound like he wanted to hear the words that would be coming out of his mouth, only asking because this is what his Mom would have done.

“It doesn’t matter Dad, I have to get over it. Maybe Danny can help.”

His dad suddenly pushed away from the table and scrubbed a hand over his face, Stiles watched him as he did it. “You know when I fell in love with your mother Stiles?”

Stiles shrugged and gestured for his dad to continue.

“I fell in love with her in high school, I think I was sixteen when I met her for the first time and I knew I loved everything about her; her sharp wit, her smart mouth and her kind heart. I didn’t go after her for a long time, we were friends for a long time before we ever started dating and after losing her so young, my biggest regret was believing that nothing you feel when you are that young could ever mean anything in the grand scheme of things. I don’t know if I believe that every high school love story is going to end in happily ever after but I do know that Stilinski’s tend to fall in love hard and young. If you truly believe that he won’t ever feel the same way, then by all means move on but I don’t think you really see him for what he is.”

“He who?” Stiles whispered.

“Son, don’t treat me like I don’t see everything that’s going on between you and him. I don’t like the age difference but he has made it more than clear that he has no intention of stealing your virtue but don’t tell me that Derek Hale doesn’t care about you.”

“Care, sure. He’s my alpha, that means something to him. We’re a team and a damned good one at that but that’s all it is for him and I am mostly okay with that.”

“Stiles, sometimes I don’t understand how it’s possible but you are the dumbest smart kid I have ever met.”

“Hey!” Stiles barked out, offended though he shrugged when his dad gave him the side-eye daring him to really argue. He was the smart guy who learned the truth about a psycho alpha and then stupidly went after him without any werewolf back up, “Okay then, no lies detected.”

His dad snorted and spoke after shaking his head a little, “Just don’t do anything stupid like give up too soon okay?”

Stiles nodded though he didn’t know if that was going to do anything besides break his already bent heart. “I’m going to go rest for a little while before dinner, do you know if anyone is coming over?”

His dad gestured towards the stairs, “Scott’s upstairs now, waiting for you. He thought he was being quiet but he tripped on something.”

Stiles grinned then walked upstairs, grabbing his bags on the way by and thought about the explicit instructions about how to care for his new clothes from Lydia but he could do laundry tomorrow and be ready to wear some of the new stuff on Monday when he went back to school full time. He wandered into his bedroom and threw himself down on the bed next to his best friend who just laughed and helped him out of his jeans and into some pajama pants. It should’ve been weird for them to be that closer to one another but Stiles was getting used to the weird lack of physical boundaries that come with being part and parcel to a pack of werewolves and figured it was a good day to be a part of a pack.

After a while when they were settled in to watch something on his computer on Netflix, Stiles turned a little and asked, “What did Peter say to Derek right before he was taken to Eichen House?”

Scott stiffened almost imperceptibly. “What made you think of that?”

“He was trying to hurt Derek and I didn’t hear, maybe there is something I can do to help him.”

“There isn’t,” Scott stated back and that sounded a whole hell of a lot like the ‘discussion is closed’ kind of a tone.

“Come on Scotty,” Stiles cajoled, “I will talk to Allison about dancing with you and maybe forgiving you a little about your beginning stalker days.”

Scott narrowed his gaze on Stiles. “Are you messing with me right now?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, Peter said something to Derek about you. Something to get him angry, maybe make him do something stupid. He said, ‘You’re only going to turn into her if you touch him’.”

Stiles’s mouth dropped in surprise and then he shouted in incandescent outrage for Derek, “Fuck that bastard!”

Scott was frowning, “What did he mean?”

Stiles seethed when he thought about what Kate did to Derek when he was younger than Stiles was now. Apparently, Peter knew what happened to Derek and was more than willing to use it to his advantage and he hated the idea that Derek was worried about becoming Kate when it came to him. “That’s between Derek and I but thank you for telling me, I’ll talk to Allison about the early Wolfy Scott days for you.”

Scott nodded and they went back to the TV show they were watching, Stiles appreciated these moments when they weren’t letting the rest of the world into their little pack. Scott was getting used to asking for the physical closeness that he desired and now that Stiles and Derek were pack-mates and Scott and Stiles were pack and have been forever the need had only gotten stronger. Scott’s arm was close enough to touch Stiles’s arm and they just let the connection bring them closer together as pack-mates.

 

Stiles groaned as he put on the black semi fitted black jeans and tucked the burgundy button-up into his pants then straightened the vest he was wearing. The tie was black to match the vest and the pants and he couldn’t do much with his short hair but he added some skater shoes on his feet, trying not to ignore all the ways that he’d always been a ridiculous nerd and they were comfortably a part of him.

Danny was supposed to be here soon and they were meeting the others at the school. They had already made quite the statement since Stiles was rescued. Jackson, Lydia, Allison and Danny had become a close-knit group in school with Scott and Stiles though Danny had come along for the ride because of Jackson and Lydia and now Stiles though neither of them were anything more than Winter Formal dates. Danny had jumped on the ‘touching Stiles’ bandwagon more than once when he was starting to panic and Stiles was sure that his ex was noticing but Stiles didn’t really care about the chase.

“Stiles! Someone is here for you,” his dad called out and the teenager sighed as he took another look at himself before walking downstairs.

He paused at the bottom of the steps when he saw Derek standing there instead of Danny and he frowned, “What are you doing here? You know I’m going to the dance tonight.”

Derek nodded and jerked his hand out from behind his back to show a small silver, though it probably wasn’t silver since Derek was holding it, pendant on the chain and it made Stiles think of Kate’s necklace for a second before he reached out and took it. “I want you to be happy with your friends but I want you to remember that you always have me too.”

Stiles realized after a moment that it was the triskele, the symbol that was tattooed on Derek’s back, like three spirals connected at the center. He looked up and smiled as he unhooked the necklace clasp and put it on, tucking it inside the shirt and nodded towards the other man, “Thank you though I could never need a necklace to remember my alpha.”

Derek nodded back and stepped forward into Stiles’s space and opened his arms. The teenager couldn’t help but lean forward and hug the werewolf and there was no way of knowing for sure because he wasn’t a werewolf but the way Derek tightened his arms around Stiles it was like he _thought_ Stiles was saying goodbye tonight when he went to the formal with another guy.

Of course, that was probably just Stiles’s wishful thinking. He hugged Derek extra hard anyway then pulled away when the doorbell rang and Stiles opened it to find Danny waiting in a nice suit and he frowned when he saw Derek standing just behind Stiles.

“Hey Danny, I just need my coat.”

Danny nodded and Stiles rushed back into the entry way to get to the closet. He grabbed the black suede jacket that Lydia found specifically for this outfit and walked back out of the house, pressing a hand to Derek’s shoulder on the way by.

“All ready?” Danny asked, holding his arm out and Stiles slipped his hand through the open space and feeling _a lot_ ridiculous for it. He waved to Derek over his shoulder and they slipped out the door.

 

He missed as his father walked up to Derek and pressed a hand on the alpha’s shoulder. “Derek what are you doing?” the sheriff asked pointedly.

The werewolf shrugged, “I don’t want him to be alone because I can’t be what he really wants.”

“And how do you know you can’t be what he wants? Maybe you’re exactly what he wants and you can continue to learn together and change, the relationship will change with you if you let it.”

“I thought you didn’t want this for him,” Derek growled, feeling more and more confused as the days carried on. He was confused about what he wanted, about what Stiles wanted and even more so about what he should be doing if anything.

“I want my son to be happy no matter what,” the sheriff stated, “And I think if you two are staying close to each other and maybe I get to keep my son as long as possible. I’m just being selfish though you better believe I will find some of those bullets from the Argents if I ever find out you hurt him or touched him in some way that he didn’t want. He is still underage for the moment.”

“I know you don’t understand the severity I say this with but I would never do that to him,” Derek shook his head and sighed, “What should I do?”

“I am not going to help you court my son, just change your clothes into something that makes you look like you care, sneak into the dance and make some sort of gesture that says that no matter what, no matter how confusing all of this is, you are going to be there for him. You know as well as I do to wish for more time with the people you love, don’t let this not knowing keep you from being with him if that’s where you want to be.”

Derek nodded and stared at the man in front of him and all of a sudden he had so much in coming with the Sheriff, they had both lost loved ones and wished for more time. And Derek was lucky to have him he thought as he left without another word, he headed back to the hotel where he was staying whenever he wasn’t staying the night at the Stilinski residence and shaved quickly. He changed into a white button up and black slacks with a tan vest and his leather jacket and headed out again. He drove to the school and parked far enough away that it wouldn’t draw too much unwanted attention then he headed for one of the exit routes he’d found when they were sneaking in and out of the high school constantly, not to mention all the time he’d spent there in his youth. He could hear the pounding of the music and he didn’t want to walk into that gym but he thought about Stiles in that burgundy shirt and those jeans, wondering when the teenager had started making his heart thump loudly in his chest, loud enough that even a human’s hearing could probably pick it up. He walked into the gym and slipped into the crowd even as his senses drew him directly to that scent of Stiles and he watched as the teenager danced spastically with Danny, they were standing _really close_ and Derek hated it. He didn’t understand the desire he suddenly had to move Danny away from Stiles, to keep the other teenager from gripping Stiles’s hips in such an intimate fashion. He could just imagine that Stiles’s scent was being buried by all of the other scents being layered on top. Derek listened as the noise of the fast-paced music subtly drew to an end and a slow song started. He didn’t know the song because there had never been any time in his life for romance and music and dances but he watched as Lydia and Jackson started dancing together, Allison and Scott were making eyes at each other and Danny and Stiles were looking around then shrugged. Stiles slipped his hands over Danny’s shoulder and the other teen gripped Stiles’s waist and his thumbs were slipping closer to his ass for a second then Danny pulled him in and Derek couldn’t handle it anymore.

He walked over to them and tapped Danny on the shoulder, they both stopped and he stated, “I’m cutting in.”

“Derek? What are you doing here?” Stiles squeaked and Derek couldn’t help the little smile that only ever seemed to happen when Stiles was around.

“Stiles, will you dance with me?”

Danny took his hands away from Stiles’s waist, “Too rich for my blood,” he said and winked at Stiles who clearly didn’t know what he was doing so he just pressed his hands into Derek’s shoulders and the werewolf placed his hands along the teenager’s back and their bodies came closer together and something settled inside of him. It was like for the first time since the fire, his wolf was happy. Derek pressed his nose into the side of Stiles’s neck and took in a deep breath of his scent and for the first time scented the hint of arousal though it was slight and buried in a lot of other complex scents. It didn’t take him back to Kate because the smells were so different all of a sudden. Kate had always smelled like deception and disgust, something that he’d been too young to really understand. Stiles’s scent was clean, it was young and pure. And it was never just lust, it never had been. There was always this delightful scent of hope and happiness. Stiles would never be like Kate and he was never going to hurt Stiles. Not if he could help it.

“Derek, why are you here?” Stiles husked as they swayed to the music.

“I don’t know what this is Stiles, I don’t know who I am most days because I didn’t let myself feel anything ever after the fire but I know one thing for sure.”

“What’s that?” Stiles whispered as he pressed his temple into the side of Derek’s head just above his cheek and Derek rubbed into the contact gratefully, using the comfort it granted him.

“I don’t want to do any of it without you.”

Stiles jerked back a little and glared at him, “Don’t mess with me right now Derek! You came to my high school winter formal and cut into the dance I was having with someone who actually knows what he wants and I might be it. Don’t play with me like this, I know what we have is ridiculous and confusing but in my heart of hearts I hope…” he stops abruptly and starts pulling away, “Never mind.”

Derek tugged him closer again though he kept a little bit of space between their hips for both their sakes, “Please don’t hide this from me, Stiles.”

“Nope, I have already been taking all the risks. It’s your turn,” Stiles looked away and Derek nodded because he was right again. Stiles had been the one to put his feelings out there verbally and physically a couple of times and he’d been hurt for it. Not because Derek had wanted to hurt him but because he didn’t know what the hell he was doing or feeling.

“I’m going to have to show you, will you come out to the lacrosse field with me?”

Stiles nodded and they slowed to a stop and Derek took the teenager’s hand and he tugged him out of the room. He nodded to Scott in passing and they left the gym. Derek walked through the dim school halls and out onto the lacrosse field with Stiles in tow and then released him to start to unbutton his vest and shirt, showing the muscles in the pale moon light in the sky and Stiles watched but his breathing hitched and his heartrate ratcheted up, “What’s going on Derek?”

“I want to show you something, after you were taken I realized something powerful. Something important, life changing kind of important. I didn’t need the anger anymore because I had a new anchor, its something much more powerful and simple than anger could ever be.”

He stripped out of the rest of his clothes with ruthless efficiency while Stiles tried desperately not to look even as he _really wanted to look_ and started the shift, feeling Stiles’s heartbeat inside his chest and listening to his breathing and then he was on all fours and looking down at the black paws in front of him. He looked up at Stiles who was grinning like a maniac, hands over his open mouth as he stepped forward then paused.

“Derek, you did it! I remember what you told me, that you couldn’t do it after Paige. But here you are! Can I touch you?” he asked.

Derek tilted his head in ascent, he wanted to be able to talk but his wolf _desperately wanted_ to be touched by Stiles before words were going to be useful again. The teenager stepped forward and pressed his hands gently into the fur over the wolf’s shoulder blades and just dove in. Stiles didn’t put his head into Derek’s face, something the werewolf appreciated for the respect it portrayed. Derek let the hands roam over his back and down his legs for a couple of minutes then Derek took a step back and grumbled at Stiles, giving a sneeze as well just as he shifted back to his human form and got into his boxer shorts and dressed quickly while Stiles waited impatiently, still kneeling on grass of the field.

“You found another anchor, something other than anger?” Stiles finally asked, vibrating in excitement.

Derek tied his shoes and straightened as he stepped forward and took Stiles’s hand in his then easily moved in close to the teen’s body and pressed his hands into Stiles’s hips like they were going to start dancing again. He felt ridiculous, he felt like he had when he’d been with Paige and that was more terrifying than the biggest alpha could ever be.

“There’s no music,” Stiles grinned, tucking his chin a little abashed by what was happening.

“I’m sure in that head of yours, you can find some music for us,” Derek stated then leaned in close and pressed his cheek to the side of Stiles’s head and whispered, “It’s you Stiles.”

Stiles pulled away almost too fast but Derek had been ready for it, “I’m what?”

“You’re my anchor, Stiles Stilinski.”

Stiles gulped and gasped a little, “Like Allison is Scott’s anchor?”

“Yes,” Derek returned then gripped the side of Stiles’s head and brought him closer instead of backing away like he’d been doing for weeks now. He came 90% of the way to Stiles’s lips and waited, listening as the teenager’s heart raced and maybe it was the feeling of closeness or maybe it was the bond in the back of his mind but he knew that Stiles was thinking through the decision he was about to make.

“I can’t do this,” Stiles whispered, “I won’t be like her and I won’t let you think that you could ever be like her.”

Derek shook his head, “This is something different!” he whispered fiercely and leaned in the rest of the way and pressed his closed mouth over Stiles’s lips for a chaste kiss. He was concerned with Stiles’s words that the teenager would stay a frozen block against him but the second Derek’s lips touched his, Stiles melted against the werewolf and they stood like that for a few minutes. The kiss never made it past closed lips but it was something.

Something Derek didn’t understand but maybe it didn’t matter that he didn’t understand it. Stiles was here with him, he’d never given up on Derek and the alpha would do the same for the courageous human that he might want to call his own, he might get to call his own.

Stiles pulled away and pressed his face into Derek’s neck and whispered, “You better not be fucking with me here.”

Derek snorted and held on tight, “Not fucking with you, though I can’t promise to be any good at whatever this is, let alone whatever this is with a guy. Never even considered it before you.”

“Maye we can learn together then.”

Derek pressed another kiss to the side of Stiles’s head, letting them sway from side to side to some imaginary tune and nodded, “That sounds nice.”

“Maybe we’ll even have time for at least one chat about it before the next thing happens.”

“I would facepalm if I could right now,” Derek said as he pressed kisses to the teenager’s temple and dragged his lips down to Stiles’s cheek, just to feel the shiver.

“I can’t believe you just said facepalm and why are you doing it in the first place?”

“I am pretty sure you just jinxed us but we will just have to make the time for confusing sexual identity questions between bad guys and hospital visits.”

“Yeah,” Stiles whispered, seemingly not bothered at all by the news that they were going to have to schedule self-awareness talks around their busy lives of the supernatural not to mention Stiles was still in high school and they were both going to end up in counseling because of all this. Then he moved away from Derek just enough to press another kiss into the edge of Derek’s mouth and he smiled into the contact.

“Come on, let’s go finish our dance with all of my friends,” Stiles said and they did.

Derek followed behind his pack-mate, his anchor, his love? He didn’t have all the answers but he figured if he had Stiles and the others then they would be doing okay. He didn’t have to have all the answers right now.

He was left thinking as they walked back into the gym and Stiles started dancing like a maniac around Derek as he swayed to the music. Stiles didn’t seem to need any help so he just looked around at his nascent pack and thought about everything that happened in the past three months. When he’d come here, all he had was loss and anger, sadness and loneliness and now he had a pack and a partner He would never forget what happened to his family but day by day with the help of this young idiotic teenager—he was learning to move on with the loving support of this potential family. He never had to be alone again.

 

Stiles woke up the next morning after the dance, stretched and every part of him bumped into Derek who was sleeping in the bed next to him. The teenager turned towards the alpha and smiled a little at the thought of the awkward dancing of the night before then they both fell into bed in their pajamas, curled close and fell asleep. Danny hadn’t been too upset, in fact he’d been seen making out with his ex-boyfriend, so something must have gone the way he’d wanted it to. And Stiles had no idea what to think when Derek had walked up and said he was cutting in. Every fevered dream and hope had smashed into him and he’d been desperate to not let them run away from him.

He didn’t know what to think about the romantic gesture of coming to the dance and the kiss and the turning into a wolf was about, he was sure that Derek was just as confused this morning about his feelings as he was the night before but knowing that they both wanted to stay close to each other, figure it out together was more than Stiles had ever craved. When he reached out and pressed a hand to Derek’s chest gently just to feel the simple rise and fall of his chest Stiles was pleased when Derek’s hand slipped over his. The alpha slowly woke up and turned to smile at Stiles. That facial expression was still so few and far between for the alpha that Stiles took it for what it was—a gift.

“Morning,” he husked.

“Good morning,” Stiles responded with a grin, “I have my first session with that lady that Deaton set us up with. She’s going to be here soon and honestly if we don’t go downstairs and face my dad he’s going to assume you took my innocence on prom night like all the teenage rom-coms.”

Derek sighed, “That was a formal, not prom. Plus you know that I don’t know what I’m doing here right?” he asked then coughed a little bit. “I have never had anything to do with guys, I have never looked at another male and felt attraction.”

“Me neither,” Stiles whispered.

“I don’t know what to expect and after everything that happened with Kate I was never able to trust again that I could be romantic with anyone. I don’t know how to do this.”

Stiles nodded and pressed a hand to Derek’s warm and bristly cheek, “I don’t expect anything from you. I won’t hurt you the way she did.”

Derek nodded and then there was a knock at the door just before it opened and they were staring at the sheriff who just rolled his eyes at them, “Is this what I am going to have to look forward with the rest of your time here son?”

Stiles snickered, “Nothing happened Dad, I swear.”

“I know kiddo, now come on. Dr. Marcus is going to be here in an hour and you are going to be meeting with her in the study. I would like some breakfast before that happens and I would like to hear about the dance. I assume that you guys are going to be gathering after your session today?”

Stiles looked at Derek and then nodded to his dad, “Yeah we have to start training for the next full moon, it seems my life is going to revolve around that event for the foreseeable future.”

“Okay then come on. You are going to go jump in the shower and Derek and I will be downstairs waiting for you.”

Derek nodded, the epitome of father’s favorite son trying to get on the Sheriff’s good side and despite the fact that Stiles really wanted to kiss the man again, he sighed and got up and out of bed and stumbled towards the door while Derek got up and followed his dad downstairs.

After a shower and a surprisingly not-completely-awkward breakfast with his dad and his alpha, Stiles was sitting in the study and bouncing in his chair as a woman walked in. She was a little older than Mrs. McCall and she introduced herself as Doctor Siobhan Marcus, and he could call her Shiv or Dr. Marcus, whatever he was comfortable with and he wondered for a second if he was comfortable at all with a woman. She didn’t look like Kate at all, with her white blonde hair cut short in a pixie look and light brown eyes. She was dressed in black slacks and a buttoned blouse that went all the way to her throat with a jacket over it. Marcus sat down across the room from him and invited the sheriff to sit as well for this session and Stiles thought about Derek who was still in the living room. He would be able to hear everything and he thought that was a comfort at least.

Derek knew all of it, he wouldn’t be surprised by this though his dad maybe would be.

“Where do we start?” Stiles asked, gearing himself for the next fifty minutes of torture.

“Maybe I should start with a little back story, something about me so you don’t think this is just me listening and passing judgement on your experiences?”

Stiles wasn’t too sure about anything so he nodded then he lifted his finger like he was asking permission to speak.

“Yes Stiles?”

“Derek is out there, you know what he is?”

“Clearly he’s an alpha werewolf and he can hear everything that’s going on in here. I understand that Stiles, I would like to get to know the both of you but I will understand if you each would like to speak to someone different. I spoke to Deaton about both of you a little bit and I am sure that I would be able to help you both.”

“He can hear everything,” Stiles said again.

“I understand Stiles, I have nothing to hide from either one of you. I am only here to help.”

“Okay then,” he responded and gestured for her to continue.

“I was born into a werewolf pack, in Texas. I loved them and before you ask, I was born a human. My father was a bitten werewolf and my mother was human. I befriended the hunters in our territory but it was suggested to me that I stay away from them. As you have experienced, werewolf hunters can be very closed-minded sometimes about the supernatural. I didn’t listen and I fell in love with the hunter’s son. I am only telling you this because your story and the story happening here in Beacon Hills has happened ad nauseam over the years. The Hunters came after my werewolf family and a couple on both sides were killed and the peace we had with each other for so many years died in that moment. I continued to see how the system that the werewolves and the hunters had fallen into, but I didn’t have any way to fix it. I realized that maybe there was a way I could help in the fallout for those who were affected by it. I went to college to be a counselor and I went back home to start there because I knew the people but I didn’t go back to my family first or the hunters—I went to the people who wanted my help and they were the victims caught between the two. All those people who were turned against their will because of an unbalanced alpha or the families left behind when a hunter killed a werewolf who hadn’t killed anyone. The innocent people caught up in the war between the hunters and the supernatural. People like you and Scott, even your other friends.”

Stiles crossed his arms looking sullenly at the floor, “It’s not their fault, it was mine. I am the reason Scott is a werewolf.”

Marcus frowned, “Do you truly believe that he has no fault in that action. You did not hold Scott at gun point, you asked your best friend to do something stupid and he did it because he cares about you and believe it or not that’s what boys do.”

Stiles shook his head.

“You don’t have to believe me right now, I just want you to know you’re not alone. You are not the only one that has been affected by werewolves and witches and so on. I know it will take some time, but I want you to know that I understand that you have been equally affected by hunters and werewolves and the fact that your attacker is still on the loose, all those things are going to change how we work together.”

“What do you mean?” Stiles demanded as he uncrossed his arms and tried to stop his leg from bouncing while he waited to hear what she would say next.

“It sounds like your father is going to do what he needs to do to see what you need to support your mental and emotional health but there is something else I am going to suggest so you can feel safe enough to continue on your day to day life.”

“Meds?” Stiles asked, knowing damn well he sounded way more excited about that then he really should be. “They took away my Adderall and I am not pleased about it.”

Marcus for her benefit smiled at him, “You will have to take that up with your other doctors, I am not capable at this time to give a fair assessment of what your needs might be for medication but there are other things out there to help with that hyper-vigilance you are feeling as well as the panic attacks you’re struggling with.”

“God, just say it!” Stiles shouted in frustration, already feeling the anxiety building under his skin at the roundabout way she was sharing the information with him.

“I can recommend you get a service animal, one trained to help protect you and to keep you stable so you don’t have this overwhelming fear and anxiety getting in the way of things like school and just walking to your friend’s house.”

Stiles couldn’t help or stop the utter fear that walking alone to Scott’s house caused in him, his leg started jiggling again and his fingers started tapping.

“Stiles what did I say, you are having a strong reaction right now. I want you to remember where you are right in this moment. You are here at home with your father and Derek is right outside the door. Try to remember what’s happening in this moment.”

Stiles nodded and closed his eyes only to discover that was worse so he opened them again and looked at his father who was tense in his chair, looking like he desperately wanted to come over and take his son’s hand to comfort him. He remembered that Derek was outside the door and he wouldn’t dare let Stiles get hurt. Kate wasn’t here, Peter was in a cage at Eichen House.

“Okay, good job Stiles.”

“She’s still out there and Derek and my dad aren’t with me all the time. You think I should get a dog then I will get a dog, how quickly do you think I could conceivably get one?”

Marcus nodded, “I already have the request started, due to the fact that you are still in danger from someone running from the law will also speed up the process, we could probably whittle it down to the next couple of days though because you are always with werewolves the dog will have to be specially trained to interact with the supernatural or at least accept the presence of your alpha. I am going to get this started immediately as long as you both understand that this is your choice.”

Stiles looked at his dad then at the door because it was like he couldn’t make sense of the request enough to speak, “I need Derek’s help. I don’t know what to do here.”

“Okay,” the Sheriff said and he stood to open the door to see Derek standing there waiting, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. Stiles’s dad let him in and he barely glanced at Marcus before he was kneeling next to Stiles in his chair.

“Stiles, if this is what you need to do then you need to make this decision and not worry about what living with werewolves is going to do. I only care that you are protected no matter who is with you or not. If this is what the doctor thinks is right for you then we will make it work even with werewolves.”

“Derek,” Marcus said kindly which brought Derek’s gaze over to her, “It’s nice to officially meet you. I am glad to know that you are going to do whatever it takes to make sure Stiles has the care he needs but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable with the solution because Stiles is in your pack, he’s important to you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Derek said distractedly, “I will undoubtedly be speaking to you soon enough, you come highly recommended by Deaton and his contacts at Eichen but right now this can’t be about me.”

“I can appreciate that, any dogs that we introduce to Stiles as possible service animals, you can meet them as well if that would make both of you more comfortable. There are some breeds that tend to handle the werewolves and especially the alpha status better than others. We can make this work but you are talking about a lifetime commitment not just to a protector and a helping hand in your life, but another pack mate to protect. Can you handle the responsibility that comes with that, Stiles?”

The teen couldn’t help but take Derek’s hand tightly in his but then he looked to his dad for the answer. He’d been helping to keep his dad on his feet for years and helping Scott and the others had become one of his life priorities but this was something different. This was a pretty big commitment to take on. “Dad?”

“I think you can do this kiddo, I also think this is the best way to keep you safe for Derek and I. We’ll make it work, I will talk to the school and get the process started there as well.”

“Okay then I guess I am getting a service dog.”

“Now remember,” Marcus said with a finger pointed in their general direction, “This dog is going to have extra training for the protection of your person in light of the issue you are having with Argent being free. You are going to have to learn how to communicate with your service dog. This is more than just a dog who is going to go everywhere with you. He or she is going to know from your body language how to take care of you but there are going to be times and phrases that you have to learn to. Are you ready for that?”

Stiles shook his head and tightened his grip, “I don’t know but I can’t even imagine going to school or the store to pick up last minute groceries and knew that he needed this. “I don’t know if I am ready for anything that my life is demanding that I should do but I can’t be scared forever and I can’t depend only on Scott and Derek and my dad. I need to know I can survive this, maybe get back to some semblance of normal.”

“Well you’ll get to that, it’s going to take some time though okay. This dog isn’t the answer to everything.”

“Understood,” Stiles whispered. Derek pressed his other hand over the back of Stiles’s head and they both looked over at the woman who was there to make sure they got through this. Stiles looked at his dad, thinking after all this time, lying and deluding himself into believing he could do this on his own—he didn’t have to. He tightened his hand on Derek’s fingers and looked back to the counselor and said, “I can’t promise I’m going to want this some days. I can’t promise that I won’t lie and hide things when I think it’s too dangerous for the people I love. But I do not want Kate fucking Argent to own me no matter what.”

“Stiles, language,” his dad said and everyone laughed before Stiles motioned for the other two men to leave the room because it was about time he got to work on this.

When the door was closed behind them Marcus smiled at Stiles, “Okay, let’s start at the beginning.”

So, he did, this was going to take more than a half an hour Stiles thought. “It all started one night when I heard about a dead body on my dad’s scanner…”

 

THE END…. FOR NOW

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WaBAM - This is a complete story!!!!!!! Please tell me what you think and what you would love to see in Season two with a Sterek twist <3


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